IEP Chandigarh, April 10

– Haryana Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal directed the pollution control board officers to prepare a detailed report to observe the nature of the effluents or industrial discharge at various industrial entities in order to treat their waste according to the nature of the effluent discharge. For this purpose, joint committee comprising officers of Pollution Control Board, HSIIDC, ULB and Public Health Engineering Department will be constituted.Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal was presiding the meeting regarding pollution in Yamuna River catchment here at Chandigarh today. He said that officers should ensure upgrading of existing STPs, ETPs and CETPs as per the industrial discharge. He also directed that a road map should be prepared to tackle the issues related to river-based pollution. Before permitting any setup to operate, its nature of effluent discharge should be clearly mentioned in the project report so that the appropriate treatment plant can be installed.While reviewing the status of village STPs in Yamuna catchment, it was apprised that an action plan prepared for treatment/diversion of 75 MLD sewage generated from rural areas at 276 villages. It was informed that work in 118 villages has been completed and work in 130 villages are underway.The Chief Secretary was apprised that 4 Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) located at Peer Bodhi, Rohtak with the capacity of 15 MLD, Jodhpur Road, Palwal with 15 MLD capacity, Ferozpur, Palwal 2.5 MLD capacity and Rohtak 10 MLD capacity are on the verge of completion and will soon be operational.With a view to curb the effect of pollution in Yamuna catchment, the work of Mungeshpur drain & Drain no. 8 of Bahadurgarh, Dhanaura Escape, Yamunagar, Drain No. 2, Karnal, Drain No. 8, Rohtak, Leg-1 and 2 Drain, Gurugram, Leg 3 Drain, Badshahpur Sihi, Budhiya Nallah, Faridabad Gaunchi Drain, Faridabad and KCB drain, Jhajjar should be expedited so that they can be operationalise before the timeline, CS directed.He was further informed that 4 STPs of 340 MLD capacity are under consideration in the Yamuna River catchment which will be completed by December 2025. CS took the status update regarding upgradation of 5 STPs at Jhajjar, 2- Rohtak, Palwal and Faridabad. Along with it 3 CETPs of 20.2 MLD capacity are under upgradation in Sonepat and 1 is under construction at Bahadurgarh and 7 are proposed in districts Faridabad, Gurugram and Sonepat with the capacity of 126.5 MLD.The meeting was attended by Chief Executive Officer, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, Gurugram and Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority, Faridabad, Sh. Sudhir Rajpal, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Haryana, Industries & Commerce Department, Sh. Anand Mohan Sharan, Managing Director, Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation, Sh. Vikas Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Haryana, Environment, Forests & Wildlife Department, Sh. Vineet Garg, Director General, Town & Country Planning, and Secretary, Town & Country Planning Department, Sh. T.L. Satyaprakash.

IEP Chandigarh, April 10

Haryana Steering Committee of Green India Mission which met under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal here today approved Rs 364.60 crore annual plan of operations for recognized landscapes in the state. The planning and implementation of interventions under the National Afforestation Program (NAP) is designed on the basis of landscape. In Haryana, the recognized landscapes are Shivaliks, Plains and Aravalis. The financial year 2023-2024 will be the second year of implementation of the Green India Mission.        The work to be carried out under the perspective plan for the recognized landscapes include eco-restoration, enhancing tree cover in urban and per-urban areas including institutional lands, agro-forestry and social forestry for increasing biomass and creating carbon sink. It also includes soil and moisture conservation works in the moderately dense forest cover showing degradation.        A sum of Rs 182.95 crore has been approved for the  Shivalik Landscape comprising areas in districts Panchkula, Yamunanagar and Ambala, while Rs.143.26 crore has been sanctioned for the Plain Landscape comprising Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Jind, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar and Kaithal districts. Similarly, a sum of Rs. 38.38 crore has been approved for Aravali landscape comprising areas of  districts Faridabad, Gurugram, Nuh, Mahendergarh, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Palwal and Rewari.        Directing the officials, Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal said that synergy between different schemes of the forest department and funds under the Green India Mission should be maintained to achieve the targets of the annual plan of operations. He said that the quality of forest cover should be enhanced with improvements in ecosystem services.        Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal directed the officers to issue instructions regarding intensive plantation and conduct inspection of ponds under the Amrit Sarovar scheme. “Amrit Sarovar is an exemplary kind of model. Intensive plantation should be carried out around the ponds under the Amrit Sarovar scheme and the directions in this regard should be publicized for appropriate action. Besides, senior officers of the forest department should ensure monitoring by conducting inspection of ponds in different districts,” he said.        The Chief Secretary also directed the officials to ensure proper implementation of works under the Shivdham Yojana and Nagar Van, besides restoring the old rest houses in the state. He also instructed the officials to consider and plan for elephant camps at different rehabilitation centres in the state.        On the occasion, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Forest and Wildlife, Sh. Vineet Garg along with other officials of the forest department were present

IEP Chandigarh, April 8 

Opening new vistas for medical education in Haryana, Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today inaugurated the Amrita School of Medicine in Faridabad after inaugurating the C20 Summit on Integrated Holistic Health at Amrita Hospital, Faridabad. Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the Integrated Holistic Health Summit of Civil 20 (C20), one of the official Engagement Groups of the G20 at Amrita Hospital. Meanwhile, with the inauguration of this medical college, now there will be three medical colleges in Faridabad to provide state-of-the-art health facilities to the people of Faridabad and nearby districts.  Besides this, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the newly constructed auditorium in the campus. The auditorium has a seating capacity of about 1200 people. Speaking after the inauguration of C20 Summit on Integrated Holistic Health at Amrita Hospital the Chief Minister said that while working on the principle of 5S— Shiksha, Swasthaya, Suraksha, Swabhiman and Swavlambhan the present state government is making dedicated steps to increase the Happiness Index of the State just like Bhutan. “Along with allopathy, it is necessary to give importance to homeopathy and Ayurveda. Due to the efforts of the Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi, today Yoga has got special recognition in the world. Haryana Government has also established Shri Krishna Ayurvedic University in Kurukshetra keeping in view the importance of Ayurveda. All India Institute of Ayurveda is also being established on 250 acres in Kurukshetra with the help of the Central Government. Work on 700 wellness centres is going on in Haryana. Besides this, 1000 parks and vyayamshala are being set up,” shared Sh. Manohar Lal. The Chief Minister said that according to the WHO standard, there is a requirement of 28,000 doctors in the state and presently there are 13,000 doctors including private practitioners in the state. The Haryana government is taking various steps to increase the number of doctors in the state. Now, apart from constructing medical colleges in all 22 districts of the state, the number of MBBS seats are also being increased continuously. Permission has also been sought to establish a joint college of Ayurveda and Allopathy in the state, shared Sh. Manohar Lal. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, addressed the delegates virtually. Former Health Ministers from countries such as Argentina, Rwanda, and Malawi, were also present at the Summit. World-renowned spiritual leader and humanitarian, Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma),  (Amma) is the Chairperson of C-20. During the inauguration ceremony, the Chief Minister also released two new platforms, named Digital Shiksha for Advanced Clinical Capacity Learning (DiShA) and We Are with You (Hum Aapke Saath Hain). In this two-day Summit, delegates from more than 700 CSOs, health professionals, educators, and leaders from across the public health landscape would participate in discussions and workshops to formulate policies that support global health and wellness. Coordinator of the C20 Working Group on Integrated Holistic Health, Dr. Priya Nair said that the working Group aims to identify, articulate, discuss and address key health challenges in the domains of mental health, women and children health, nutrition, non-communicable disease, One Health, elderly care and holistic health (traditional and alternative forms of medicine, including Yoga and meditation). This would help suggest policy frameworks to address the same for the betterment of society in general. The G20 (Group of 20) is a forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union. It works to address major issues related to the global economy. C20 provides a platform for Civil Society Organizations (CSO) around the world to voice people’s aspirations to the world leaders in G20. Union Minister of State for Power and Heavy Industries, Sh. Krishan Pal Gurjar, Transport Minister, Sh. Mool Chand Sharma, Energy Minister, Sh. Ranjit Singh and many dignitaries were present at the inauguration ceremony. 

IEP Chandigarh, April 8

 Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that the state government initiative of transferring procurement payment to the accounts of farmers has been appreciated by the entire country. During the Kharif procurement this time, the state government will follow the same pattern of transferring payment directly in the bank accounts of farmers within 48-72 hours.  “If there is a delay in the payment, they will be paid along with 9 percent interest,” added Chautala. Interacting with media persons today, he said that 408 grain markets have been set up for procurement of wheat, 102 for mustard, 11 for pulses and 25 for barley in the state. So far, about 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has reached the grain markets, out of which 18,000 metric tonnes have been procured. Last year, various government agencies procured 67 lakh metric tonnes of wheat. Although there has been crop damage due to hailstorm this year, the same amount is expected to be procured. The state government has made adequate arrangements for the procurement of 76 lakh metric tonnes of wheat. Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that in view of the crop damaged caused due to rainfall and hailstorms, he has sent a DO letter to the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Mr. Piyush Goyal requesting some relaxation in the moisture content of wheat. After this, a team of the Central Government has conducted a survey and he is hopeful that the Central Government will provide some relaxation to the farmers’. Sh. Dushyant Chautala also informed that the revenue of the state government is consistently increasing. During the year 2019-20, the government had received Rs. 6,100 crore as stamp-duty revenue in the state. Despite revenue-estates being closed for 4 months during COVID-19 crisis, the stamp-duty collected during the year 2020-21 is Rs. 5,134 crore, Rs. 8,490 crore in the year 2021-22 and Rs. 10,395 crore in the year 2022-23 so far. The stamp-duty and other revenue has been collected in the account of the state government, he added.

IEP Chandigarh, April 8

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that the farmers who have suffered losses due to the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms should upload their reports on the e-Kshatipurti portal maximum by tomorrow so that assessment of Girdawari can be done. He added that e-Kshatipurti portal will remain open till tomorrow.He also called upon the farmers to re-check their bank accounts details on ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’ portal in order to avoid any inconvenience from getting compensation for losses.The Deputy CM, who also holds the portfolio of Revenue and Disaster Department, stated this during a press conference organised at Haryana Niwas here today. He stated that farmers in several regions of the state experienced crop loss owing to unseasonal rainfall and hail storms from  March 24 to April 3 apart from the month of February. Last year, e-Kshatipurti portal was created by the state government, on which the farmers were given the facility to upload their crop loss report. So far, the data of loss in about 16.83 lakh acres has been uploaded by the farmers on this portal. Based on the reports uploaded by the farmers of Charkhi Dadri, Jind, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Kaithal, Sonipat, more than one lakh acres of crops have been reported damaged.He said that it is the harvesting season and 1.65 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has reached the mandis. In order to get an accurate assessment of the loss in a month, the state government has decided to engage “kshatipurti sahayak” in addition to revenue officials, patwari, kanungo, deputy commissioner, etc. to assess the compensation. He added that ‘khastipurti sahayak’ (compensation assistants) will also assist the Patwari. These compensation assistants will be appointed only for this girdawari. He said that these compensation assistants will be given Rs. 5,000 for carrying out the work of Girdawari on a block of 500 acres of land. Apart from taking photos from mobile phones, these compensation-assistants should have computer knowledge, they will be appointed by the concerned Deputy Commissioner.Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that according to the rules of the state government, compensation is given up to Rs. 9,000 for 25 to 50 percent damage, Rs. 12,000 for 75 percent damage and Rs. 15,000 per acre for 100 percent damage. This time, he added, the task of distributing compensation from the “State Disaster Relief Fund” would begin as soon as the report is prepared at the district level, rather than waiting for the report to be prepared at the state level.The Deputy CM also informed that the report of General Girdawari has arrived, in which crops have been damaged in 13 districts. He informed that orders were given to conduct special girdawari during the Vidhansabha session also, in which reports of damages have also come in three other districts.

IEP Chandigarh, April 8

In the last three years, the Haryana Government has taken several positive steps for the Revenue Department, including modernizing and digitizing the department, making ownership and property dispute-free with the help of ‘large-scale mapping’ and ‘Svamitva’ along with various other initiatives.The Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala informed the media persons  today that 3-tier drone mapping has been completed in 6,260 villages of 22 districts of the state in order to make them ‘Lal-dora free’. He said that 25,14,500 property IDs have been generated and 23,94,000 property IDs have been handed over to their real owners completely free from ‘Lal Dora’ in which claims and objections have been sought. The work of the remaining 5 percent ID will also be completed in the next two to three months.The Deputy CM said that by December 31, 2023, the entire state will be made ‘Lal-Dora free’, then we can proudly say that Haryana is the first state in the country to be ‘Lal-Dora free’ and every property here is digitally marked.He also informed that the work of ‘large-scale mapping’ is also being done in the state, under which each property will be marked colour-coded. There are 7,115 revenue-estates and there are currently 7,089 such revenue estates where drone flying has begun, and there are 4,976 villages where this drone flying work has been completed. Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat and Kurukshetra districts are the districts where drone-flying has been completed in all the villages. Now anybody may see who owns the land digitally thanks to this mapping, he added. He informed that marking of ‘Murabba-stone’ is also being done digitally, whose accuracy is considered up to 0.1 inch.Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that the state government has set a target to complete large-scale mapping work by March 2024. He informed that rovers are also being procured for accurate mapping of the hilly area so that large-scale mapping of 73 villages in the hilly area can also be done properly.He further informed that the way the record-room has been digitized at the district level, in the same way the records of Patwarkhana, sub-tehsil, tehsil and commissionerate offices will also be digitized by December 31, 2023. 

IEP Chandigarh, April 8

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Sh.  Dushyant Chautala said that Haryana is continuously doing commendable work in GST collection, whereas last year the state was at number six in the country, this time it has accelerated to number four. He informed that this time there has been an increase of 23 percent in GST collection as compared to last year. Total Rs. 33,527 crores GST collection has been done in the state, Deputy CM informed.

 The Deputy CM, who also holds the portfolio of the Excise and Taxation Department, said that last year the state had received Rs. 2,575 crores as compensation for the last three months. He informed that this year the government has received a total of Rs. 30,951 crores as tax in the state.

He further stated that we are at number 4 in terms of GST collection nationwide, only small states Sikkim, UT Dadra Nagar & Haveli and Goa are ahead of our state. Appreciating the work of the officers of the Taxation Department, he said that the state government had also got the officers of the department trained in two rounds, once by the British High Commission and the second time by the trained officers of Central Government’s Department so that the officers of our department could be updated with modern technology. In future too, a separate budget provision has been made for imparting training twice a year.

 Sh. Dushyant Chautala giving information about the important works done in the Excise Department, said that the department has earned Rs. 9,687 crores so far against the target of Rs. 9,200 crores for the year 2022-23. There is still one month left and It is estimated that this figure will cross Rs. 10,200 crores.

He informed that out of 2,400 liquor shops in the state, ‘Point of Sale’ machines have been installed by the department in 2,104 and soon other shops will also be covered. Flow-meters will be installed in all distilleries by the end of this month. He informed that high-security CCTV cameras have been installed in all godowns, distilleries, bottling plants of the state, it is expected that leakage has been controlled to a great extent. He said that in distilleries and bottling plants, monitoring was done through CCTV from DETC’s office, this time parallel checks will be done in head-quarters also so that there is no tax evasion.

He informed that earlier road-side checking of vehicles was done manually, now by the next month new software will be prepared and tablets will be given to the officers so that the location, time and data of tax evasion of related goods can be obtained from the GPS of the caught vehicle.

Indicating many other reforms in the excise policy for the next excise year, he said that he will try to make such a policy that his state could generate maximum revenue.

IEP Chandigarh, April 8 

Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that the aim of the state government is only public service and in the last eight and a-half-years, many public welfare works have been done by bringing radical changes in the system. The Chief Minister while addressing a programme in Delhi on Friday late night, was giving information about the public welfare policies of the government. “The 2.45 crore population of the state is our family and taking care of them is our topmost priority. We are experimenters and have learned this quality from Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi; that one should never hold back from doing any new experiment,” he added. The Chief Minister said that implementation of e-tendering system in Panchayati Raj institutions will give long-term benefits and it has also garnered appreciation from the public during the recent visit to Bhiwani. The Chief Minister said that the state government has made Parivar Pehchan Patra, through which the data of every family and its members is available with the government. “The real meaning of PPP is Protection of Poor People. We are working for the welfare of poor and needy,” he added. Taking a dig at the opposition, Sh. Manohar Lal said that the previous governments used to come up with schemes, but instead of those who were the real beneficiaries; influential persons used to take the benefits of such schemes. “But the present state government is providing benefits of every scheme to the eligible beneficiaries,” he said. He further said that the opposition should not do petty politics of such catchy slogans and promises. Although the central government has formed a committee on the new pension scheme to study it. The Chief Minister said that during the 10-year tenure of the Congress government, only Rs 1,000 crore compensation was given to the farmers; while in the year 2015, our government gave compensation of about Rs 1,200 crores. He said that in the Congress government, compensation was given at the rate of Rs 7,000 per acre and in the year 2014, it was made Rs 10,000 per acre but was not paid. “After our government came to power, the rate of Rs 12,000 per acre was fixed,” he added. The Chief Minister said that this time also in the months of February and March, unseasonal rains and hailstorm caused damage to the crops. After evaluating all the things, efforts are made to make up for the damage. “The state government is standing shoulder to shoulder with the farmers, but the opposition will always keep talking against the government,” he said. Responding to the opposition’s statement that unemployment is high in Haryana, the Chief Minister said that today, the opposition has nothing worth mentioning. “The opposition has become issueless. That’s why they keep talking wrong. The opposition keeps talking about the unemployment statistics of the CMIE organization. It is a private organization, which sometimes shows 24, sometimes 34 and sometimes 27 percent unemployment. Their figures cannot be trusted,” he said. He said that there is data of each family on the Parivar Pehchan Patra and those who are unemployed have self-declared in this data. According to this, there is about six percent unemployment in the state. To reduce the unemployment rate, continuous employment opportunities are being provided by the government, he added. 

IEP Chandigarh, April 7

Haryana Anti Corruption Bureau has arrested a tout while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000 on behalf of an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) who is posted at the Sadar Police Station, Ambala. On the statement of the tout, the ASI was arrested on the charges of demanding bribe.Sharing the information here today, a spokesperson of the Bureau said that police officer has been identified as Chandiram and the tout as Rajesh. The tout was accepting the money in lieu of helping the complainant in an FIR.          ASI Chandi Ram posted at Sadar Police Station, Ambala and tout Rajesh were nabbed on the complaint of Shanty Kumar,  a resident of Devi Nagar, Ambala City. The complaint states that accused police officer through Rajesh, a tout is demanding Rs 30,000 in lieu of not arresting his family members in a case already registered at Sadar Police Station.The complainant who did not wish to give the bribe approached the Bureau. After verifying the facts, a team was constituted which laid a trap and caught Rajesh red-handed accepting bribe of Rs 30,000.           The spokesperson further added that an investigation, in this case, is being done after the registration of a case against both accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

IEP Chandigarh, April 7

Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal  today dedicated two important projects worth 32 crores to the people of Gurugram. These include inauguration of Railway Over Bridge (ROB) from Basai Chowk to Dwarka Expressway and the rejuvenation and beautification of Sikanderpur waterbody and watershed in Gurugram district.          “To bring ease in the lives of the citizens of Gurugram, the government has done remarkable work in expanding the infrastructure facilities and while continuing the same, two important projects have been inaugurated today,” said  Sh. Manohar Lal. After the inauguration, the Chief Minister planted a sapling in the Sikandarpur Water Body Complex and also inspected the adjoining forest area.          The Chief Minister said that the newly constructed Railway Over Bridge at Basai will provide better connectivity to the people living in Hero-Honda Chowk to Dwarka Expressway and surrounding sectors in the coming times as well as decongest the old ROB on Gurugram-Jhajjar road, said Sh. Manohar Lal.          The four-lane ROB connecting Umang Bhardwaj Chowk to Northern Peripheral Road (NPR) in Gurugram has a length of 910 meters and was constructed at a cost of Rs 23 crore. Even before this, the Chief Minister had also inaugurated an 820 meter length and six-lane flyover and foot-over-bridge at Basai Chowk in the month of November last year.        The Chief Minister also inaugurated the Eco-restoration of the Sikanderpur Waterbody and Watershed project to restore 90 acres of the water body and watershed area of Sikanderpur.          An MOU was signed in April 2019 between GMDA, and Iamgurgaon to restore 90 acres of the water body and watershed area of Sikanderpur at a cost of Rs 9.1 crore. The aim of the project was to revive the area as an urban forest, with a vision to integrate it into the city’s larger greening strategy, forming one continuous green belt for Gurugram as part of the Aravali ridge.          Many private organizations provided financial help from CSR funds to make this project a reality. The projects also objectifies to make the space usable for the residents of Gurugram by cleaning and making it accessible, increase the city’s urban green cover through the plantation of native species, promote alternate mobility through the provision of walking/cycling tracks, promote recreation through the provision of public, open spaces and revive the water system by restoring the ponds and stormwater channels.          Notably, Sikanderpur waterbody has been revived and restored to its natural beauty. The work involved clearing the surrounding encroachments, removing garbage and debris accumulated in the water body and plugging the flow of sewage into the water body, among other initiatives. The plastic waste already present in this water body was segregated and it was ensured that the waste is disposed of responsibly in the nearby landfill. In addition, pipelines have been laid to channel rainwater to nearby residential areas. The revival of this water body has also reduced the risk of waterlogging in the area during the monsoon season. Along with this, fencing of the area, removal of debris, construction of nature trails and footpaths, and extensive plantation with local species of flora have also been done under the Eco-restoration of Sikanderpur Waterbody and Watershed Project.