Haryana caught in debt trap, alleges Narnaund MLA Jassi Petwar

Congress MLA from the Narnaund assembly constituency in Hansi district Jassi Petwar alleged that the financial mismanagement of the BJP government was pushing Haryana into a debt trap.

Petwar said unemployment, issues concerning sanitation workers and the rights of sportspersons were among the major concerns, but alleged that the state government had failed to provide satisfactory answers during the Assembly session. He said such a situation had never been witnessed in Haryana since its formation in 1966 and accused the government of attempting to suppress the voice of the Opposition in the Assembly.

Regarding the state’s financial position, the Congress MLA claimed that Haryana’s debt stood at around Rs 70,000 crore in 2014, nearly 48 years after its formation. During this period, he said, the state had built universities, hospitals, thermal power plants, roads and other major infrastructure.

In contrast, he added, the debt had now risen to Rs 5,56,623 crore over the past 12 years. Petwar questioned where the additional debt of nearly Rs 4.86 lakh crore had been spent, claiming that the state had not witnessed the construction of any major new university, hospital or railway line, or any significant metro expansion during this period.

He also questioned the government’s “no parchi no kharchi” claim on recruitments, referring to alleged cash recoveries in matters linked to the HPSC and HKRN, court cases relating to appointments and controversies surrounding various recruitment processes.

Petwar said the government had claimed to provide job security to 1.24 lakh contractual employees under the HKRN, but thousands of workers had subsequently been removed from different departments. He said the government could not claim to provide employment security while simultaneously telling contractual employees that they would have to leave once regular recruitment was carried out.

Petwar said Congress MLAs had staged a peaceful protest wearing black clothes and carrying placards against the lathicharge on students at Jantar Mantar. Despite this, the police were deployed to stop them from proceeding, he alleged, adding that former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was pushed around during the incident.

He said the Opposition had sought an explanation in the Assembly after the Chief Minister allegedly used an unparliamentary word for Opposition MLAs. Petwar also alleged that 67 scams had occurred in areas related to property registrations, medicine purchases, liquor and banking.

Raising the issues of sanitation workers and guest teachers, Petwar said employees were being prevented from raising their voices when demanding their rights.

He also criticised the government’s sports policy, alleging that Haryana, despite producing a large number of medal-winning sportspersons for the country, was receiving a disproportionately low sports budget compared with Gujarat.

He said the Congress would continue to raise the people’s voice.