Will halve power tariff: Hooda to voters

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Tohana (Fatehabad), July 22

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday launched the fourth phase of his Jan Kranti Rath Yatra from Tohana with the promise of 50 per cent cut in electricity tariff if the Congress returned to power in the state.

“Karenge ek khaas kaam, poori bijli aadha daam (will perform special task, full electricity at half rate),” said Hooda atop his makeshift rath made by fabrication work on a minibus.

Interestingly, the announcement came within days of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s statement that his government was contemplating reduction in power tariff in the state as power discoms had started earning profit after a long time.

Hooda castigated the BJP on what he termed as its attempts to mislead farmers on remunerative prices for agricultural commodities.

“The government claims to have implemented recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission and is patting itself on the back after raising the MSP of paddy to Rs 1,750 per quintal and cotton to Rs 5,150 per quintal, saying farmers are being given 50 per cent profit,” he said.

“Farmers know that they were getting Rs 5,000 per quintal for paddy and Rs 7,500 per quintal for cotton during the Congress regime,” he said.

He alleged that the revised MSP was based only on part of input costs and not comprehensive costs, as suggested by the Swaminathan Commission. He promised that the Congress would provide 50 per cent profit to farmers.

The former Chief Minister said the Congress had always stood with farmers and Congress president Rahul Gandhi had asked them raise issues concerning farmers after the death of farmers in police firing in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh.

“We started kisan mazdoor panchayats after the meeting as sought to highlight the problems of the farming community in the state,” he said.

He attacked the government for its failure to deliver on its promises to the youth of the state. He repeated his promise of raising old-age pension to Rs 3,000 per month. “We wish our elderly a long and healthy life and we hope to give them whatever we can,” he said.

“In 2014, Haryana was number one in per capita income, per capita investment, agriculture, sports and other fields. The BJP has pushed the state into despair. If people vote the Congress back, we will bring the state to its old glory and make Haryana the number one state in progress and development,” he added.

He took on the state government for its failure to maintain law and order in the state. He said it was a matter of shame that Haryana had become number one in cases of crime against women.

“The situation has become so bad that the police have stopped registering cases with the horrible incident in Panchkula being the latest example,” he said.

The former Chief Minister took on the INLD, accusing it of being hand in glove with the BJP government and indulging in shadow-boxing. He said the INLD’s agitation against the BJP was a sham and it would not make any impact even if it continued to agitate for 50 years.

Former state Congress president Phool Chand Mullana, former Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadyan, former minister Sampat Singh and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera also addressed the rally.

The choice of Tohana for the launch of this phase of Hooda’s yatra was significant because state BJP president Subhash Barala represented this constituency.

It formed a part of Sirsa parliamentary constituency, considered a stronghold of the INLD. Barring Tohana, the INLD had won eight Assembly seats in the Sirsa parliamentary seat in 2014.

‘Stay away from drugs’

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday raised the issue of drug addiction and called on the youth to stay away from drugs. Mentioning the news item “For Rs 500, get drugs at de-addiction centre in Fatehabad within minutes” published in these columns on Sunday, Hooda said the report showed the enormity of the situation. He attacked the government for failing to control the rise of the epidemic. “There was a time when Punjab was way ahead of Haryana, but 10 years of SAD-BJP rule pushed the state back by several years because of drugs that ruined the lives of the youth,” he said.