IEP Chandigarh, October 14

Haryana Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal said that about 5 lakh devotees are likely to participate in the solar eclipse fair to be held in Kurukshetra on October 25, for which necessary arrangements are being made on a large scale.

        The Chief Secretary was presiding over a meeting organized in this regard with the officers of various departments today.

        The Chief Secretary said that special buses will also be run for the fair so that the devotees do not face any kind of inconvenience in reaching the Mela area. In the meeting, the Chief Secretary directed the officers that the District Administration, Kurukshetra Development Board, and Tourism Department should work in coordination for the successful organization of the fair. He directed the concerned officers that the public address system should be further strengthened so that anybody may quickly access the fair’s information via a mobile app.

        He said that to strengthen the medical system, arrangements of ambulances, stretchers, and teams of doctors should be deployed in the fairground. In addition, there should be a provision for fire brigade. Boats, divers, and swimmers should be ensured on the banks of Brahmsarovar so that all facilities are immediately available in case of any emergency.

        He said that law and order should be strengthened in view of the security of the fair. Proper arrangements should also be made for accommodation, drinking water, toilets, parking, etc. facilities for the devotees. He said that arrangements for electricity and telephone should also be made in the Mela area. Apart from this, complete arrangements for cleanliness should be made in the fair area.

        He said that e-rickshaws and mini-buses should also be run for the convenience of the devotees and transport-related coordination should also be established with the neighboring states. Apart from this, directions were also given to establish coordination with the Railways so that the devotees do not face any kind of inconvenience in reaching Kurukshetra.

        It was informed in the meeting that the Mela area has been divided into 20 sectors, for which about 4500 policemen and 2000 home guards will be deployed. Apart from this, a police control room will also be set up at the Mela Ground. Videography will also be done with the help of drones for the security of the fair area. It was also informed in the meeting that to deal with the emergency situation, a dedicated route is being made from the Mela area to the main road, through which the movement of ambulances, fire vehicles, and police vehicles will be facilitated. It was informed in the meeting that group insurance of all the devotees will be done during the fair. In addition, 25 parking spots have been identified for parking arrangements. It was informed in the meeting that if any child or person goes missing during the fair, help desks will be set up for them. Reception centres will also be set up at various places in the Mela area.

        In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Sh. T.V.S.N. Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance and Planning Departments, Sh. Anurag Rastogi, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V Umashankar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Dr. Amit Agrawal, and other concerned officers were present.

IEP Chandigarh, October 14

Haryana Health and Home Minister, Sh. Anil Vij reiterated his resolve to take yoga to the masses and said that the construction work of 1000 new vyayamshalas  should be completed soon in the second phase.

Health and Home Minister, Sh. Anil Vij said this while presiding over a meeting today. Additional Chief Secretary of Health & Family Welfare Department, Smt. G. Anupama, Director General, AYUSH, Dr. Saket Kumar, Chairman, Haryana Yoga Commission, Dr. Jaideep Arya, Vice-Chairman, Sh. Roshanlal and newly appointed members were present in the meeting.

        The Health Minister said that the Resident Welfare Association should be contacted for conducting yoga classes in every park and society in the urban area. He also approved the proposal of the Haryana Yoga Commission to appoint yoga teachers through the Park Society, in which yoga teachers in the age group of 42 to 65 years will be appointed to render part-time services for 2 hours to 4 hours.

        Emphasizing on setting up of one Ayush Yoga Centre in every district, he said that the benefit of primary health should be provided to the general public through yoga and naturopathy. He also approved the proposal to collect the data of all the yoga classes running in Haryana and organize an annual meeting of all such yoga teachers and review their work from time to time and honour the best yoga teachers.

        While giving consent to the proposal to set up a yoga and meditation centre at the global level in the Gita Upadesh Sthali pilgrimage site at Kurukshetra. The Health Minister, directed to send its budget proposal to the state government.

IEP Chandigarh, October 13

Haryana Government will set up Solid waste management plants (SWMP) in the state in order to further accelerate the Swachhta campaign. All the districts have been divided into 13 clusters for implementing the solid waste management projects. In the first phase SWMP will be set up in three clusters i.e Bhiwani, Sirsa and Karnal.

This was stated by the Haryana Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal after presiding over the meeting of the Committee of Secretaries to approve the selection of implementing agencies for Integrated Solid Waste Management projects on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis.

He said that the committee of secretaries today approved the agencies for implementing the SWMP to these three clusters. These projects will be based on open technology. In open technology, the agency can set up bio-methanation plants, compost plants and waste to energy plants for waste disposal.

The Chief Secretary directed that the agency should ensure door to door collection of waste and transportation for its disposal, so that residents do not face any kind of inconvenience. He added that no laxity will be tolerated in these activities.

It was informed in the meeting that these projects are long term. Bhiwani cluster consists of 5 urban local bodies while 16 urban local bodies have been included in Karnal cluster and 3 in Sirsa cluster.

In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management and Consolidation Departments, Sh. VS Kundu, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance and Planning Departments, Sh. Anurag Rastogi, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment and Climate Change Department, Sh. Vineet Garg, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Local Bodies Department, Sh. Arun Kumar Gupta attended the meeting. Sh. Arun Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V. Umashankar and Director, Urban Local Bodies, Sh. DK Behera were present along with other officials.

IEP Chandigarh, October 13

Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal has ordered the suspension of the Divisional Land Conservation Officer, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Gurugram, Umesh with immediate effect for furnishing a false report in a corruption case. Along with this, Chief Minister has directed to issue  show -cause notices to Additional Director, Kuldeep Gautam, who is currently posted in Panchkula, and Deputy Superintendent, Arvind Kumar.Giving this information, OSD to Chief Minister, Sh. Bhupeshwar Dayal said  after the meeting of CM Window held under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V Umashankar, directions have been given to take stern action against the above officers.He said that Land Conservation Officer, Gurugram, Umesh, was given the responsibility of ascertaining the financial loss caused to the government in a case. On this Umesh reported no financial loss resulted to the government, which was contrary to the earlier report given by Sh. RK Verma, a retired IAS officer.In this regard, a complaint was made by a person named Daljit Singh regarding Chilla, Dhulawat, Bhond, Nangal Mubarakpur villages of Nuh district, in which the officials working there were accused of rigging the farmers to the tune of Rs. 78 lakh in lieu of installing underground drain and fountain sets. 

IEP Chandigarh

Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi today flagged off the fourth Vande Bharat train equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features for commuters travelling from Una to Delhi from Una Railway Station.

On reaching Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal traditionally welcomed the Vande Bharat Express train and he along with his Cabinet, MP and MLAs boarded the train to travel to Ambala. During this, he also met Union Railway Minister, Sh.  Ashwini Vaishnaw.

On this occasion, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Sh. Gian Chand Gupta, Cabinet Ministers, Sh. Mool Chand Sharma, Sh. Kanwar Pal, Dr. Banwari Lal, Minister of State, Smt. Kamlesh Dhanda, MP, Sh. Rattan Lal Kataria, BJP State President, Sh. O P Dhankhar and many MLAs and officers remained present.

During this visit, the Chief Minister enquired about the features of Vande Bharat Express and thanked the Prime Minister for starting such a train on this route.  

Home and Health Minister, Sh.Anil Vij and local residents welcomed the Union Railways Minister and Chief Minister. Sh. Manohar who had travelled from Chandigarh to Ambala on the Vande Bharat Express train said that the people of Haryana will be greatly benefited from Vande Bharat Express.

“The government has decided to run 75 such trains as a part of the ongoing Azadi Ka  Amrit Mahotsav. By flagging off the fourth such train equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features the Prime Minister has not only made the travelling from Una to Delhi easier but has yet again given a new direction to the country’s development wheel,” said Sh. Manohar Lal. 

He said that rail connectivity will be strengthened with the introduction of running new trains. While sharing his experience, Sh. Manohar Lal said that travelling on Vande Bharat Express gives an airline-like experience.

He said that the new Vande Bharat train will greatly benefit the people of Punjab and Himachal as well as Haryana. The people of the State, who travel to Delhi or other cities for work, will be greatly benefitted as not only their travelling time will be saved but they will also experience comfortable travel, added Sh. Manohar Lal. 

The Chief Minister said that the Central Government is working continuously to expand and modernize the railway network and passenger-oriented services. The central government has prepared a master plan for the rejuvenation of 200 railway stations.  Modern facilities are being introduced to railway stations including railway stations of Haryana, added Sh. Manohar Lal. 

He said that this train will run from Himachal Pradesh and reach Delhi via Chandigarh. This train will also stop at Ambala station. The passengers travelling from Delhi and from South Haryana to Chandigarh will be greatly benefited.

Sh. Ashwini Vaishnav said that Vande Bharat Express is a low-cost high quality,  make it Indian train. The train offers you state-of-the-art facilities and is equipped with many advanced features.  Along with the high speed, the train seats have been made quite comfortable.

He said that the Vande Bharat train will also help in promoting tourism in the region as the travel time from Una to New Delhi will be reduced by two hours.  

Running from Amb Andaura to New Delhi, this will be the fourth Vande Bharat train to be introduced in the country and is an improved version as compared to the earlier ones. The train runs at high speed to cover long routes in a shorter duration.

IEP Chandigarh, October 13

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal has directed the officers to make plans in order to make Yamuna and Ghaggar river in Yamunanagar and Panchkula districts pollution free as rivers are our national assets. He added that apart from the guidelines issued by the Central Government, we must work tirelessly to create new policies so that the surrounding states adopt similar policies. Apart from this, more work is required in the direction towards re-using of treated water as water conservation is a global concern. Water conservation is necessary for the future generation, although Haryana has taken many important steps in this direction.

The Chief Minister gave these directions to the officers during the review meeting of the Yamuna Action Plan here today. He said that plans should also be made on a large scale so that maximum reuse of treated water can be done in sectors like irrigation, thermal power plants, industrial and horticulture. He said that Ghaggar and Yamuna are the only two major natural rivers of Haryana. Their protection is essential. For effective implementation of Yamuna Action Plan, a joint meeting should also be held with the officers of neighboring states adjoining Haryana. Pollution whether it is water pollution or air pollution, the need of the hour is to curb their effect in order to safeguard our environment. Inter-state meetings should also be organized continuously on this subject.

Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. DS Dhesi, Chairman of Haryana State Pollution Control Board, Sh. P. Raghavendra Rao, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Local Bodies Department, Sh. Arun Kumar Gupta, Chief Executive Officer of Gurugram and Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authorities, Sh. Sudhir Rajpal, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment and Climate Change Department, Sh. Vineet Garg, Managing Director, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, Sh. Vikas Gupta, Advisor (Irrigation) to the Chief Minister,  Sh. Devender Singh, besides senior officers of other departments related to Yamuna Action Plan were also present.

IEP Chandigarh, October 13

The Punjab government has taken a lead in creating history of identifying such Shamlat lands, which were not even known to the Panchayats. Sharing this information during a press conference at the Punjab Bhavan here today, the Rural development Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that under the able leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, a special campaign was launched by the Rural Development and Panchayat Department to get rid of illegal possessions and identify the Shamlat lands of the villages.          He said that a special shamlat cell was established by the Rural Development and Panchayats Department to run this campaign effectively. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that the department is thoroughly examining all the records of the revenue department related to shamlat lands across the state, so far the work of comparing the records with the revenue department record out of 153 blocks has been completed in 86 blocks to identify such shamlat land which is not under the possession or in the record of Panchayats. During this investigation, the department has identified 26300 acres of cultivable panchayat land, which was not owned by the panchayats, the estimated market value of which is approximately Rs 9200 crore.          Terming it a great achievement of the Bhagwant Mann led Punjab government, the Rural Development Minister lashed out at the previous governments and said that none of the previous governments did not bother to identify or take care of Shamlat lands.          Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that the officials of the department have been directed to complete the identification of such shamlat land in the remaining blocks by December 2023. Besides this, he said that the records of the shamlat lands were being uploaded on the website of the department.          The Rural Development Minister taking forward the campaign to get rid of illegal occupation from panchayat lands, has issued a WhatsApp number and has appealed to all the citizens of Punjab to send complaints or information regarding illegal occupation of shamlat land on WhatsApp number 9115116262. He also said that the identity of the informer will be kept confidential.          Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal further disclosed that during the first phase of the government’s campaign to get rid of illegal encroachment on land, a total of 9126 acres of land has been vacated from the illegal occupants. Following the appeal of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, people have come forward willingly and handed over about 3435 acres of shamlat to the village panchayats.          Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal announced the vacated shamlat lands would be handed over to the panchayats which would be used for development works by the panchayats. The land which is cultivable would be given on annual lease and non cultivable land would be used for plantation to preserve our environment.