LIVE- Governor Prof Kaptan Singh Solanki addressing Budget session of the Haryana Assembly

          The scheme announced by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, while presenting the Union Budget to Parliament on February 1, will benefit 10 crore families at the national level by providing a medical cover of Rs 5 lakh per year for every family.

On housing, the Governor said, the target of Housing for All would be achieved by 2022. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), 4,349 new houses had been constructed and construction of another 13,543 houses was under progress. Action Plans are being prepared by all towns under ‘Housing For All’. Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) covering 77,511 beneficiaries of 66 towns have already been approved by the Government of India.

Besides, the Slum-in-Situ Rehabilitation Policy has been launched to provide people residential facility under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Not limiting itself to providing houses to slum dwellers, the policy goes a step further. Till the completion of the housing project, the developer will pay rent of the interim alternative accommodation to slum dwellers, the Governor added.
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Haryana has been reckoned as the fastest-growing states of India up to the year 2017, based on three key macroeconomic parameters, i.e. growth, inflation and fiscal health, and has done exceedingly well on GST compliance front.

This was stated by the Haryana Governor, Prof Kaptan Singh Solanki, while addressing the Haryana Assembly on first day of the Budget session, today.

Citing CRISIL report titled ‘States of growth’, he said according to advance estimates, the per capita income of Haryana in real terms in 2017-18 was Rs 1,54,587 as compared to Rs 1,45,163 in 2016-17, thereby registering a growth of 6.5 per cent. At current prices, the per capita income of Haryana in 2017-18 is Rs 1,96,982.

Prof. Solanki said Haryana had done exceedingly well in terms of return-filing compliance and tax collection under the GST. It is gratifying to note that Haryana though being a small state, ranked 5th in terms of tax collection below only Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

The state is on a trot on the road to digitalization in response to our Prime Minister’s call. Conscious steps taken to promote cashless payments in the offices of various departments, boards and corporations like awareness building, incentives, training and installation of Point of Sale machines have yielded positive results.

Listing the achievement of the government, the Governor reiterated the state government’s commitment to make all-out efforts to ensure a very bright future for the state.
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Chandigarh, March 5–The Haryana Governor, Prof  Kaptan Singh Solanki, has lauded the state government on several accounts for registering impressive landmarks in several spheres of socio-economic development and nation-building which have earned the state national acclaim and recognition.

The Governor, who was addressing Haryana Vidhan Sabha on the first day of the Budget Session today, said, “Haryana is the only state of India which is kerosene-free, where no member of any Panchayati Raj Institution is uneducated or a defaulter of a bank loan or electricity bill, which assures 100 hours of paid work to educated unemployed youth and guarantees that no farmer will ever incur any loss if he grows potato, onion, tomato or cauliflower, whatever be the selling price for his produce.”

Besides, Haryana has won national acclaim for its efforts to curb the evil practice of female foeticide and remove the blemish of open defecation. The government has achieved notable success in implementation of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme and registered a quantum jump  in sex ratio at birth to the highest ever level of 914 in December 2017 as compared to 833 in 2011 and 871 in December, 2014.

The Governor said, buoyed by the unprecedented experience of complete transparency and objectivity in recruitment of more than 20,000 youth for different jobs in the government, every young man and woman felt confident that there would be no nepotism, favoritism or corruption whatsoever in the ongoing process for recruitment for more than 50,000 jobs.

Haryana aims to become the first state of the country to realize the target set by the Prime Minister, Prof. Narendra Modi, to double the income of the farmers before 2022.  Water has successfully been taken to the parched fields of hard working farmers of southern Haryana at over 300 tails of almost all minors and distributaries after a long and dry span of over 30 year.

The concerted efforts made by the government have resulted in a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court of India on the Presidential Reference, and since then it is vigorously pursuing the matter for initiation of the long pending construction work on the remaining portion of the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal.

Regarding making things easy for the people, Prof Solanki said currently, 106 services were being delivered on the Simple All Inclusive Realtime Action Oriented Long-lasting (SARAL) platform, a unified platform to provide citizen services at one place. Come April 14, 2018, the birth anniversary of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, and all the 387 citizen-centric services notified under the Right to Services Act and schemes pertaining to 31 departments would be launched on the SARAL portal.

The state government has decided to establish Pandit Deendayal Antyodaya Kendras in every tehsil which will realize the true spirit of Antyodaya-ensuring that the benefits of all welfare schemes quickly reach the last man standing.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, the government has taken the bold decision to pay the subsidy amount of Rs 1,600 for an LPG connection to beneficiaries of State BPL list. A total 4,78,000 new LPG connections have been released till December, 2017, providing a smoke-free and healthy environment to the house wives while cooking.

The Governor said Haryana was the first to adopt the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission for its employees. The pension of all the pensioners and family pensioners of Haryana has also been revised as per the recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission. Even the contractual employees have been given the benefit of minimum 14.29 per cent increase in wages.
Besides, the government has earned national recognition for enrolling the highest number of apprentices per lakh of population in the country under the National Apprenticeship Promotional Scheme, Prof Solanki added.
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The Haryana Governor, Prof. Kaptan Singh Solanki today announced that the Government was giving final touches to a comprehensive State Action Plan on Sexual and Gender Based Violence to address all major components of crime afflicting women and children in the state.
Addressing the Hayana Vidhan Sabha on the first day of the budget Session here today, Prof Solanki said that the action plan would clearly delineate the responsibilities of various stakeholders on the steps to be taken by them in a time-bound manner. The government is committed to empowering women so that they may live with dignity and contribute as equal partners in the development process in an environment free from violence and discrimination.
He announced that the state government had launched Food Fortification Programme in Barara and Naraingarh blocks of Ambala District on a pilot basis which would be extended to the entire state very soon. This will go a long way in overcoming the problem of malnutrition and anemia among women, he added.
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The Haryana Governor, Prof. Kaptan Singh Solanki, today said that Police Mitr Kaksh (Service-cum-Complaint Centre) would be established at each police station, initially as a pilot project in the districts of Rohtak, Karnal and Panchkula.
Addressing the Hayana Vidhan Sabha on the first day of the Budget session here today, the Governor said these would not only add to the humane face of the police but also help in enhancing peace, harmony and brotherhood in the society.
It has been decided to set up a Centralized Police Control Room (Haryana 100 Project) for the entire state at an estimated cost of Rs 153 crore and running cost of  Rs 40 crore per annum. This project would be directly manned by highly trained Professional personnel at the police control room being set up at Sector-3, Panchkula. Two PCR vehicles will be provided in every police atation that will reach any crime scene within 15 minutes.
Prof Solanki said to carry on the process of recruitment of constables and sub-inspectors with even greater objectivity and to provide preference inter-alia to those families none of whose members was in government job amendments had been made in the Punjab Police Rules. Interviews had also been dispensed with.
It has been proposed that persons committing rape of women up to 12 years of age may now be punished with death. One thousand posts of Special Police Officers have been created exclusively for night patrolling, he added.
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The Haryana Governor, Prof. Kaptan Singh Solanki, today said that for the welfare of media persons a scheme to provide monthly pension to accredited media persons above 60 years of age, had been implemented from this year. As many as 63 media persons have already started receiving monthly pension of Rs 10,000.
Addressing the Vidhan Sabha on the first day of the Budget session here today, the Governor said an insurance scheme for media persons was also on the anvil and would be launched shortly.
The government has finally started giving pension of Rs 10,000 per month to the Matri Bhasha Satyagrahis due to whose efforts the state came into being as a separate entity on the federal map of independent India.
Prof Solanki said the government had also carried out the long overdue task of providing ex-gratia appointment in government job to one dependent of every martyrs of Defence Forces Personnel. Since October 2014, family members of 178 martyrs have been given employment.
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The Haryana Governor, Prof.  Kaptan Singh Solanki, today complimented all members of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, government employees and NGOs who worked with great dedication to make Haryana Open Defecation Free.
The Governor, who was addressing Haryana Vidhan Sabha on the first day of the Budget Session, said this achievement had enhanced the dignity of lakhs of women.
Enumerating the state government’s achievements in the field of rural development, he said a new Scheme ‘Haryana Gramin Vikas Yojana’ had been started for the holistic development of villages and to improve the quality of life in rural areas.
Existing infrastructure will be upgraded and new infrastructure will be built in all villages. The number of Gram Sachivalayas has increased from 1,131 last year to 1,618 till now. These are equipped with basic computer and IT facilities.
‘Swarna Jayanti Maha Gram Vikas Yojana’ has been initiated for planned development of the villages having a population of 10,000 or more to avoid migration of village population to urban abadi from 2016-17 to 2020-21 at an estimated cost of Rs  1,461 crore.
The Governor said that Deenbandhu Haryana Gram Uday Yojna in the name of the great leader late Chaudhary Chhotu Ram Ji, had been started for the development of villages in the state, and an amount of Rs 5,000 crore would be spent in the next two years on the development of 1,700 villages having a population from 3,000 to 10,000.
Under the Vidhayak Adarsh Gram Yojana, 80 villages, having a population of more than 5,000, have been identified by MLAs for their development as Adarsh Villages. An amount of Rs 45.70 crore has already been released for the development of these villages.
Prof Solanki said the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana had been mandated to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water. It is being implemented in 13 districts of the state and an amount of Rs 15.98 crore has been spent on various activities in Watershed Projects during this year till December 31, 2017.
A State Irrigation Plan of Rs 992.72 crore has been prepared under the scheme. To undertake water conservation and water harvesting works for recharging the depleting underground water in the over-exploited blocks, an amount of Rs 21.22 crore has been released.
A new scheme ‘Irrigation Efficiency Fund’ with assistance from NABARD will be implemented from the next financial year for undertaking water conservation and harvesting works in 36 identified overexploited and critical blocks of the State for recharging of the ground water with a proposed outlay of  Rs 76.20 crore.
The Governor said the government had prepared four major projects with an estimated cost Rs 1,115 crore, for increasing the capacity of carrier system to utilize the surplus water during the monsoon period in river Yamuna. Out of this, three projects namely, increasing capacity of Western Jamuna Canal Main Line Lower from RD 68,220 (Hamida Head) to RD 1,90,950 (lndri Head), improving capacity of WJC Main Branch from RD 0-1,54,000 & remodeling of Augmentation Canal have been approved. These three will help to bring about 4,000 cusecs of additional water to the state during monsoon season.
Major rehabilitation of about 125 channels at an estimated cost of Rs 550 crore is underway. A major project of improving capacity of various pump houses and canals of the Jawaharlal Nehru Lift Irrigation System costing Rs 143 crore will be completed by the end of this month. The Government has also restarted the long shelved Mewat Feeder Canal Project, he added.
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