Solanki lauds govt for overall development

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 27

Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki’s Address to the Haryana Assembly today proved to be ‘old wine in new bottle’ even as he reiterated the state government’s commitment to make all-out efforts to lay golden future for the state.

The Address, on the first day of the Budget session, basically listed the achievements of the Khattar government in the last over two years which were already in public domain, especially in the wake of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Haryana’s creation.

The 40-page Address, which was wrapped up by Solanki in about 20 minutes with a major of portion taken ‘as read’, patted the Khattar government on the back for promoting investment, creating jobs and making lives of people easy and hassle-free by bringing various services right at their doorsteps with extended use of IT tools. “We are being supported by the Government of India and the Haryanavi diaspora in these efforts,” Solanki asserted.

The 24-hour power supply, fillip to industrialisation, creation of robust infrastructure, especially roads, filling the skill gap to make the youth employable and boosting the income of farmers were listed as thrust areas of the policies of the government.

Beginning with the celebrations of 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh master, and 300th martyrdom day of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, Solanki was all praise for the concerted efforts made by the government, which resulted in a favourable verdict of the Supreme Court on the Presidential Reference paving the “way for initiation of the long-pending construction work on the remaining portion of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

Announcing the state government’s decision to observe the year 2017 as “Garib Kalyan Varsh”, Solanki identified nine areas of development, including women, youth, agriculture, infrastructure, education, health, culture, rural and urban development.

“With suggestions of one and all, my government has prepared an action plan of activities, showcasing the glory of the Vedas, Gita and Upanishads, our heritage and our giant strides in socio-economic development,” he added.

Alluding to the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” programme, he said the efforts made by the government had shown encouraging results and the sex ratio at birth in Haryana has gone up from 876 in 2015 to 900 in 2016.

Referring to employees, the Governor said the government had adopted recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission on the pattern of the Central Government.

The government is always conscious of its fundamental principles of “Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikas” and “Haryana Ek-Haryanavi Ek” in all its endeavours. It ensures that our economic growth is not only fast, but also sustainable and regionally balanced. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the state grew at 9 per cent in 2015-16 against the all-India figure of 7.9.

Solanki said the state government planned to launch five new schemes to further augment the efforts towards the development of women and children. These included Swarna Jayanti Bal-Aahar-Utpadan Kendra, Swarna Jayanti Swasth Bachpan, Swarna Jayanti Nari Sanrakshan Greh, Swarna Jayanti Bal Sudhar Greh and Swarna Jayanti Mahila Puruskar Yojana.

Meanwhile, CLP leader Kiran Choudhry has described the Governor’s Address as “lacking in focus, perspective and direction and paints the government as a rudderless ship in the choppy waters of Haryana”. “The 9,500-word text simply glosses over vital issues such as problems faced by farmers, demands of Jat agitators, traders, job-seekers and the worsening law-and-order situation in the state. It does talk of building the foundation for the golden future of the state but offers no policy framework,” she added.