Farmers Movement Archive

Hopeful of resolving issues with farmers soon as talks are underway: Khattar

Even as farm leaders threatened to escalate their agitation if evicted forcefully from the protest site to open the Delhi-Haryana borders, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday expressed optimism over ongoing dialogue with cultivators leading to resolution of the year-long agitation against Centre’s three farm laws.“I am hopeful of resolving the issue soon as talks are underway,” Khattar said in a news conference here to mark Haryana Day as the state was carved out of Punjab on November 1, 1966.“The farmers are our own people and we should sit across the table and hold talks. The only way out is dialogue,” the CM said, listing out achievements of his government in the past seven years and announcing a series of initiatives, including remitting jail term of 250 prisoners and a plan to monitor implementation of welfare schemes in villages.Khattar reiterated that the state government wants to ensure that the blockade is lifted at the earliest. He said the cultivators should shed their stubbornness and let people travel without restrictions as the blockade is causing massive damage to the industries and hardship to the commuters.Stating that the state government is making efforts to open the Singhu and Tikri borders closed by the farmers, the CM reached out to the farmers saying the problem can be solved only through dialogue.“We have constituted a committee to hold talks with the farmers. Discussions are underway and the Supreme Court has also taken cognisance of this matter. Due to the closure of the border, local residents, traders and tourists are facing inconvenience. Those blocking the highway should come forward for a dialogue,” he said.‘Mission merit is on’The CM said his government’s top priority is transparency in giving employment and that “mission merit” in recruitment will continue.He said a gang spread across different states was involved in the recent paper leaks. “We will uproot these gangs and their network. We have already arrested many people belonging to these inter-state gangs,” he added.Khattar said transparency is being exercised in recruitments being done by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission and the Haryana Public Service Commission.He said the government has provided 83,000 government jobs over a period of seven years without ‘parchi-kharchi’.He said the latest example of transparency in recruitment was of women sub-inspectors in which 58 of 64 girls were selected from poor families and no one from their family was a government employee.The CM said so far the state has registered 42 FIRs against gangs involved in paper leaks and arrested the accused.KEY ANNOUNCEMENTSSix months remission to 250 prisoners: Barring the inmates convicted for heinous crimes, Khattar on Monday announced to waive-off sentence up to six months of the prisoners locked in various Haryana jails.He said the process of releasing the prisoners eligible for this remission and convicted in general crimes will begin from November 2. About 250 prisoners will be benefited from this decision that coincides with Haryana Day.Power connections in old colonies of Gurugram-Sonepat: Khattar also announced that the government will supply power to colonies in Gurugram and Sonepat where electricity connections were not given due to dispute between builders and residents.He said the plot holders or residents of the colonies cannot be deprived of electricity due to dispute with private builders and deficient electrical infrastructure.The required electrical infrastructure will be created by distribution companies (UHBVN and DHBVN) by collecting development advance from residents of the colonies. He said a policy has been prepared to settle this long-standing issue.The decision is expected to provide relief to around 5,000 residents located in Gurugram and Sonepat. He said over 25,000 plot holders who are yet to construct their houses will also be benefitted.About 30,000 existing consumers in such colonies who already have electricity connection will be benefited by having quality power supply from the Nigam and will not have to depend on costly power generator backup power.Panchayat Guardian Policy: Haryana has about 7,000 Class-1 officers and there are over 6,220 panchayats. The Class-1 officers posted in the districts will adopt one village as its guardian to educate the villagers about government policies from which they can draw benefits.The officer will monitor implementation of various schemes. In addition to his/her duties, the officer will visit the assigned gram panchayat and interact with villagers at least once in three months.Kaushal Rozgar Nigam portal launched: Under the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar policy a ‘Nigam’ has been created to make “fair and transparent recruitments” under the outsourcing policies.Now, the job aspirants can register themselves on the portal and apply online for the posts. All those hired through the new system will get all benefits such as EPF, ESI facility, etc.This decision is expected to prevent exploitation of employees working on contract basis. The recruitment of employees through the portal will be done as per eligibility and prescribed criteria.The CM said there were complaints about contractors not paying contractual employees salary on time. He said it will be ensured that the state reservation policy is followed, salaries and other benefits are paid on time to the contractual employees is being made.The focus will also be on giving employment to socio-economically weak candidates.DC rate is now Nigam rate: Haryana will have three slabs of what is referred to as DC rate. And the DC rates will now be called Nigam rates. This rate of paying wages will be decided by the general administration department (GAD) headed by the chief secretary.Now, the state will have three different slabs of wages. Earlier, every district had different DC rates. The rates will also be applicable to the employees appointed on contract basis through Nigam.Gurugram, Faridabad, Panchkula and Sonepat have been included in Category-A; Panipat, Jhajjar, Palwal, Karnal, Ambala, Hisar, Rohtak, Rewari, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Yamunanagar, Bhiwani and Jind in Category-B; and Mahendragarh, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Nuh and Charkhi Dadri districts in Category-C.‘Parivar Pehchan Patra’: At least 456 services of government departments have been linked with ‘Parivar Pehchan Patra’ (PPP) from Monday. Khatar announced that from now onwards, benefits of these services of the government departments will be made available only through PPP IDs.The eligible beneficiaries will not have to make frequent visits to the government offices to get their work done.All information of the beneficiaries will be available through PPP IDs. He said 150 left out government department services will also be linked with the PPP by December 25.Registration of instruments: All sub divisional officers (civil) and city magistrates in the State will be designated as sub-registrars and joint sub-registrars for the purposes of registration of instruments of transfer of properties etc in each district. Tehsildars and naib tehsildars will continue to be joint sub-registrars.Cyber helpdesks: Cyber helpdesks will be set up at all FIR-registering police stations in state for registering complaints of cyber crimes. The state government has also decided to setup cyber crime police stations in all districts of Haryana in a phased manner in the next one year.Haryana Police have set up cyber crime police stations at five police range headquarters and at the police commissionerates of Gurugram, Faridabad and Panchkula.

Hindustan Times

02-11-2021

Chandigarh