The Treasury benches and Opposition on Tuesday engaged in a war of words over the naming of Chandigarh International Airport and the absence of an international and a domestic airport in Haryana.
On a question related to developing an airport in Haryana during the question hour, former Speaker and Congress MlA, Kuldeep Sharma asked the Government whether it is not true that the BJP Government had earlier insisted on christening the Chandigarh Airport after former RSS pracharak Mangal Sen. On this, Haryana Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu alleged that the Congress is distorting the facts.
Notably, Punjab Government had in 2017 demanded that the airport should be named as ‘Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Shaheed Bhagat Singh International airport, Mohali’ and also passed a resolution for the same in the Punjab Assembly.
Though the Haryana Government had no objection over the use of Bhagat Singh’s name, they had raised their concerns about the use of ‘Mohali’ in the Chandigarh airport’s name. The State Government had earlier proposed to name the airport after Mangal Sen.
Earlier, Haryana Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma informed the House that in order to develop Hisar Aerodrome as International Airport, a three phase plan has been prepared including domestic airport under the Regional Connectivity Scheme in phase-I, Small scale MRO, Fixed base operations, Defence Manufacturing and Defence MRO in Phase-II and Aerospace Manufacturing, Aviation Training Centre and Aviation University, International Airport, Aerotropolis — Commercial and Residential in Phase–III.
Reacting to his statement, leader of Opposition and INlD’s senior leader Abhay Chautala said that there is not even a domestic airport in Haryana and the government is claiming to develop an international airport in the state.
Congress alleges wrong affidavit filed by Retired lt General DP Vats
Congress MlA Karan Dalal, while talking to mediapersons in Haryana Assembly on Tuesday alleged that retired lt General D P Vats, BJP nominee for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana has not submitted complete information in his affidavit filed a day before.
Dalal said that the Congress demands that his nomination should be cancelled as he has submitted wrong affidavit and concealed facts about office of profit and other issues.
He also said that the party will approach the High Court if his nomination is not cancelled. The biennial elections would be held on March 23 and March 12 was the last date for filing nominations.
Rs1,917.27 lakh spent on Gita Mahotsav 2017
Haryana Government had spent Rs1917.27 lakh for celebrating International Gita Mahotsav 2017 in all districts of the state. As per the details tabled by the State Government, Rs631.13 lakh were spent as logistics expenditure, Rs407.52 lakh on cultural programmes, Rs496.67 lakh for advertisement in print media and Rs234.12 lakh in electronic media, Rs76.05 lakh for publicity, Rs25 lakh for recital of Gita shlokas by 18000 students, Rs31.76 lakh for academic and sports competition and Rs15.02 lakh for exhibition. An amount of Rs990.24 lakh was spent by Kurukshetra Development Board for the Gita Mahotsav last year.
4,435 farmers registered
In Haryana, a total of 4,435 farmers have been registered under ‘Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana’ till February 28. The number of farmers who would get benefit under the Scheme will be known only during the sale period starting from April 1, said Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, OP Dhankar while replying to a question in the ongoing Budget session.
He said that the State Government has provided Rs210 crore as subsidy to the farmers of the State on inputs such as seeds and pesticides. Similarly, subsidy of Rs35.99 crore was given on Agriculture Implements and 12,388 numbers of implements have been given to the farmers to promote mechanization in agriculture.
13.32 lakh farmers have been covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Rs277 crore has been paid to 2.50 lakh farmers as claim compensation, he added.
1,45,96,421 lED bulbs distributed
Under the Ujala Scheme in Haryana, 1,45,96,421 lED bulbs, 44,102 fans and 1,76,133 tubes have been distributed till January 2018, the State Government informed the House.
The power discoms were purchasing these items from M/s Energy Efficiency Services limited (EESl), a joint venture company of National Thermal Power Corporation ltd., Power Grid Corporation of India ltd., Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation to promote energy efficient devices. M/s EESl procures these items through competitive bidding from various manufacturers.
In reply to a separate question, Chief Minister Manohar lal said that PAT transformers have already been installed on 1,345 agriculture feeders in the state and the remaining feeders are to be covered during 2018-19.
Rs20.02 crore incurred for KMSs
Haryana Education Minister, Ram Bilas Sharma informed the House that the government has incurred a sum of Rs20.02 crore on construction work of Kisan Model Schools (KMSs) at four places in the State. The classes in these schools will commence shortly.
The Minister said that approval has been given to open 21 KMSs, one in every district in year 2010.
In academic session 2015-16, only 35 students had got admission in three schools and not even a single student had shown interest in admission at KMS of Bhanbhewa and Nangal Sirohi. As a result of this, all these schools were closed in year 2016.
He also informed that 13 post graduate teachers appointed for KMSs have been adjusted on vacant posts of Aarohi schools and their students have also been shifted in same Government schools.
Synthetic hockey field in Kaithal
Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Vij said that directions have been issued to prepare technical estimates for the construction of the synthetic Hockey field of international standard in village Habri of district Kaithal. He said that since the hockey field is to be constructed by Public Works
(Building and Roads) Department, directions have been issued to the department to expedite the process for the construction of this hockey field.
While replying to another question, Vij said that the State Government is working with the motto of ‘catch them young’ to promote sports among the children from the early age. He said 345 Golden Jubilee Sports Nurseries of Wrestling, Archery, Athletics, Boxing, Football, Handball, Hockey, Kabaddi / kho-kho, swimming and Volleyball have been opened in 21 districts.