Chandigarh, August 7
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said that the Haryana government should stop playing the game of meetings, and file contempt proceedings against the Punjab government in the SYL case as the Supreme Court has already decided in favour of Haryana. He said it is now the responsibility of the Union government to get Haryana its due share of water.
Reacting to the meeting of Punjab-Haryana government on SYL, he said instead of playing the game of meetings, the BJP government should file a contempt case against the Punjab government in the court as the Supreme Court’s decision has come in favour of Haryana a long time ago.
“The court had handed over the responsibility of getting Haryana’s share of water to the central government. There is a BJP government both in Haryana and at the Centre. In such a situation, Haryana should have got its share of water by now, but this could not happen due to the anti-Haryana attitude of the BJP, “ he stated.
“Congress repeatedly said that the Punjab government is disobeying the decision of the Supreme Court, but the Haryana government kept wasting time by holding fruitless meetings. It is the BJP government, during whose tenure the already built SYL canal in Punjab was filled up. This government had also filled up the Dadupur-Nalvi canal built during the Congress government to recharge the groundwater level,” he added.
Addressing a press conference at his residence, Hooda said the farmers of Haryana are continuously getting buried under debt. “Today, every farmer in the state has a debt of Rs 1,82,922. Whereas the average debt of a farmer in the whole country is Rs 74000. Haryana is at number four in the country in terms of debt-ridden farmers, because the rates of fuel, fertilizers, seeds, medicines have increased wildly during the BJP government, but the rate of farmers’ crops has not increased. As soon as it came to power, the BJP refused to implement the Swaminathan report, going back on its election promise,” he noted.
He also exposed the truth of PM Crop Insurance Scheme with figures. He said this scheme has made the farmers poor, and the insurance companies rich. This disclosure was made in the answer to a question asked by MP Deepender Hooda in Parliament.
Deepender Hooda had asked the government in Parliament why there was a massive 90% drop in compensation payments under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in Haryana and what is the reason for this huge drop despite the continuous damage to crops?
On this, Minister of State for Agriculture Ram Nath Thakur, on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said in 2022-23, ₹ 2,518.66 crore was paid under crop insurance in Haryana, which has come down to ₹ 265.23 crore in 2023-24. 4. Whereas, in the year 2023-24, if Rs 154.9 crore was paid from farmers, Rs 246.6 crore from the central government and the same amount is considered as the state’s share, then this amount of Rs 648.1 crore went into the treasury of the insurance company. The insurance company made a net profit of Rs 382.9 crore,” the former Haryana Chief Minister pointed out.
Similarly, in 2024-25, this amount further reduced to ₹ 262.6 crores. Whereas, in the year 2024-25, if the premium is considered to be Rs 280.3 crore from farmers, Rs 388.2 crore from the central government and Rs 388.2 crore as the state’s share on the basis of 50%, then Rs 1056.7 crore reached the treasury of the insurance company, but only Rs 262.6 crore was paid to the farmers. Insurance company made a net profit of Rs 794.1 crore,” he said.
In the press conference, Hooda also raised the issue of increase in collector rate. He said that by increasing the collector rate, the BJP government has once again taken a decision to push dreams of building a house, out of the reach of an average middle-class family. The government has directly increased the collectorate from 10 to 145 percent, which istwo and a half times.
“Last year in December 2024 itself, the government had increased this rate drastically. Even then, the government had increased the collector rate by up to 250% in many places. This has made it clear that the BJP is a completely anti-poor and anti-middle class party,” he stated.
He said a sample of this was also seen when the BJP had decided to allot HUDA plots on the basis of auction. Due to this, the rates of sector plots also increased overnight and became out of the reach of the poor and middle class.
Responding to the questions, the former Chief Minister said during this government, only scams are happening in the name of recruitments. “Even if any recruitment is being completed, then people from other states are given appointment in it. Till date, this government has not presented the investigation report in the case of lakhs being seized in the HPSC office. Nor has any action been taken in any scam including paper leak, liquor, paddy, cooperative, Amrit Yojana,” he noted.
Hooda said this government is now treating universities in a step-motherly manner, after government schools. Courses are also being closed after a huge fee hike in every university,
Raising the issue of Kaushal Rojgar Nigam employees, he said BJP has also cheated the Kaushal workers as BJP spread a lie that their government has made all the 1.25 lakh employees under Kaushal Nigam permanent during the assembly elections. “BJP claimed that no one will be able to remove Kaushal Nigam employees from the job till retirement. After the elections, they are now being continuously removed from the job,” he stated.
“Not only this, now it is even being said that people employed under Kaushal Rojgar Nigam can be transferred anywhere in the country. This is injustice to the worker who is doing a job of only 15-20,000 Rupees,” he added.
Hooda further said that there has been a scam of crores of Rupees in Haryana regarding making BPL cards as the BJP first implemented the family identity card and cancelled the BPL cards of lakhs of people. “Then, as the elections came near, lakhs of BPL cards were made in a hurry. Cards were made even for those people who were ineligible for it,” he said.
“By doing this, BJP took votes of lakhs of people in the elections and now after forming the government for the third time, it has started showing its true colours. Now BPL cards of thousands of families are being cancelled every day. Cards of those people are also being cancelled who are below the poverty line. The government itself has admitted that there has been a big scam in the name of making BPL cards. In such a situation, the question arises that who carried out this scam? At whose behest crores of Rupees were looted and public opinion was rigged? What action was taken against those people,” he questioned.
Expressing concern over law and order, Hooda reiterated that every resident of the state is living under the shadow of fear. Public murders have become so common. Crimes against every section including women and Dalits are increasing.
He said the BJP government is also destroying its own Ayushman Yojana, and the government owes Rs 650 crore to private hospitals. “The government has cleared its dues for a long time. Due to this, the Indian Medical Association has refused to treat Ayushman card holders from today. In such a situation, the lives of poor people getting treatment in hospitals or reaching for treatment are in danger,” he added.
Hooda welcomed the disclosure of fraud in the voter list by Rahul Gandhi. He said that many such complaints have come to light in Haryana and Maharashtra. “After voting in Haryana, the Election Commission repeatedly changed the voter turnout figures. Congress has also demanded that elections should be held on ballot paper.
“The figures of the last 5 elections show that the government in Haryana has always been formed by the party that won in the postal ballot, but this time the exact opposite has happened,” he pointed out.