Bonanza for women govt employees: More leave, interest-free loans

Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, addressing a state-level Mahila Samman Samaroh on the occasion of International Women’s Day in Panchkula today, announced an increase in leave, and interest-free loans for women for setting up dairy units.

He said regular women government employees would now receive 25 annual leaves, instead of 20. Similarly, women employees deployed under the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN), who were entitled to 10 annual leaves, would get an additional leave every month, increasing their total entitlement to 22 days a year.

The CM also said women would be provided interest-free loans of up to Rs 1 lakh to establish dairy units. Under the Mahila Kirshi Virdhi Yojana, the government was committed to providing interest-free loans to women from farming families for activities, such as livestock rearing, beekeeping, poultry farming, and other agricultural enterprises, he said.

Saini virtually inaugurated 44 anganwadi centres across the state and laid the foundation stone for Bal Bhavan at Charkhi Dadri.

He also launched three key portals to enhance governance and welfare services — the Domestic Violence Complaint Registration and Monitoring portal to streamline reporting and tracking of domestic violence cases; a portal for Aapki Beti-Hamari Beti; and the Supplementary Nutrition Programme Demand and Supply portal to ensure efficient monitoring of nutritional supplement distribution.

The CM said Haryana was seen as a state where daughters were being killed. However, after the launch of the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign by PM Narendra Modi from Panipat, the state's gender ratio, which was 871 in 2014, had now risen to 916.

He also honoured State Drug Controller Manmohan Taneja for running a campaign against the sale of MTP kits in the state.

Earlier, the CM honoured districts with state-level awards for their efforts to improve the gender ratio. Karnal and Yamunanagar districts jointly received the first prize.

He presented cash rewards worth Rs 2.50 lakh each to Karnal DC Uttam Singh and Yamunanagar DC Parth Gupta. Mahendergarh district, which secured second place, was honoured with a cash reward of Rs 3 lakh, presented to the DC, Dr Vivek Bharti; while Bhiwani district was third, with DC Mahavir Kaushik being awarded a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh.