9 yesrs of BJP Govt: 4% DA for Haryana govt staff, bonanza for local body representatives, too

Chandigarh, October 26

On the completion of nine years in power, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday opened his purse-strings to effect a two-fold increase in honorarium for local bodies’ representatives, a four per cent hike in DA for state employees, increase in pension for Hindi Movement Freedom Fighters and Emergency victims and launch of the Pranavayu Devta Pension Scheme for trees which are over 75 years old. He also announced the regularisation of 190 colonies in 10 districts of the state.

Addressing a press conference here today, Khattar announced that the pension for Hindi Movement Satyagrahis and Emergency victims had been increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs15,000. He also increased the dearness allowance (DA) for government employees by 4 per cent.

Accompanied by Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar, the CM shared that the honorarium of mayors, senior deputy mayors, deputy mayors, councillors, and chairpersons of municipal councils has been increased following a discussion with them.

Announcing the regularisation of 100 colonies of Town and Country Planning and 90 under Urban Local Bodies, Khattar said 594 colonies have been regularised this year.

He also announced the closure of six toll plazas, three of which—at Bisharpur village (Narnaual-Nizampur road) near Rajasthan Border on State Highway-17, Tatiana village (Kaithal-Patiala Road) near Punjab Border SH-11, and Gujjarwas village (Subana-Kosli-Nahar-Kanina road) SH-22—will cease operations from November 1.

Khattar announced Pranavayu Devta Pension Scheme under which an annual pension of Rs 2,750 will be granted to 3,810 trees of the state for their upkeep and maintenance, adding that these should be worshipped on Environment Day.

To weed out corruption, he said the government promoted the Direct Benefit Transfer and put Rs 85,000 crore in the hands of 12 lakh farmers, eliminating middlemen.

“There was corruption, discrimination and pessimism when we assumed power. We took it up as a challenge and the state government’s significant achievements include a robust anti-corruption system that bolsters trust and redirects public resources for the people’s betterment,” he added.

On the occasion, Khattar also listed out the main achievements of his government in the past nine years.