Chandigarh November, 25:- The Haryana State has carved out a special niche in the field of development in every sector, besides no state is matching with Haryana in providing basic amenities and social security to the people. The Principal opposition party has presented Gujarat as a model state, but it is evident from the statistics that Gujarat State is far behind from Haryana in every sphere.
This assertion was made by the Political Advisor to Chief Minister Prof. Virender. He said that during the last seven and a-half years Haryana state has ushered in a new era of development due to the commitment of taking forward the state in every sphere and welfare schemes launched by the Chief Minister Mr.Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
While referring to the achievements made by the Gujarat and Haryana State, Prof. Virender revealed through statistics that Haryana State was providing old age pension from Rs.500 to 700 per month, while Gujarat is paying only Rs.400 per month. Giving a brief note, he maintained that there were total 15.84 lakh aged person men and woman above 60 years in Haryana and old age pension is being provided to 12.86 lakh beneficiaries out of them, while in Gujarat there are 34.99 lakh persons both above the 60 years of age and the old age pension was being provided to only 7.21 lakh person, which was a meagre 20 percent of the total aged persons.
Prof. Virender pointed out that Haryana State was giving pension to 5.37 lakh widows in the state at the rate of Rs.750 per month, and even though Gujarat has two and a-half times more population to Haryana, while it was providing widow pension only to 85,000 widows at the rate of Rs.400 per month. The Haryana State was also giving disabled pension at the rate of Rs.750 per month to 1.34 lakh disabled person, while Gujarat is providing Rs.500 per month as disabled pension to only 43,000 beneficiaries.
While referring to the birth place of Mahanayak of freedom struggle, father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, Prof. Virender revealed that only Rs.6,000 per month was being given to freedom fighters in Gujarat, whereas in Haryana a sum of Rs.20,000 per month was being given as a Samman Pension to the revered freedom fighters, besides the Haryana Government providing Rs.51,000 on the solemn occasion of marriage of a daughter and granddaughter of a freedom fighter, while no such financial assistance was being given in Gujarat. He said that Haryana State was providing Rs.31,000 as (Shagun) on the marriage of the daughter of BPL families belonging to Scheduled castes and widows, while Gujarat is providing only Rs.10,000 to those having annually income of Rs.27,000. The income limit for such beneficiaries in Haryana has been fixed up to Rs. One lakh.
He said that Haryana state was giving honorarium of Rs.7500 per month to a President of district council, while Gujarat is providing only Rs.3375 per month to a President of district council. Similarly, Haryana was providing Rs.6,000 per month to a Vice-president and Rs.2500 per month to a member of district council, while no financial assistance equal to these post was being given in Gujarat.
The Political Advisor maintained that Haryana state was providing Rs.6,000 per month to a block president, while in Gujarat only Rs.2250 per month was being given to them. Similarly, a vice-president was getting Rs.2500 and a member Rs.1250 per month as honorarium in Haryana on the other hand no honorarium was being given in Gujarat similar to these posts. A Sarpanch was getting a sum of Rs.2,000 per month, Panch Rs.600 per month and a Chowkidar Rs.1500 per month, while not a single penny was being given to person similar to these posts in Gujarat.
Prof. Virender maintained that Haryana was providing Rs.3,000 per month to a Municipal council, Rs.2,000 and Rs.1500 per month to a vice president and a member respectively. Similarly, a provision has been made to provide Rs.2500 per month to a Municipal Committee president, Rs.2000 per month to a vice president and Rs.1000 per month to a member of a Municipal Committee in Haryana, on the other hand nothing was being given to the person in Gujarat similar to these post. It is evident from the above statistics that Gujarat State had no respect for the public representatives.
He pointed out that the Haryana State was providing Rs.5,000 per month to a Anganwadi worker, while Gujarat was paying only Rs.4,000 per month. Similarly, the Haryana was providing Rs.200 per month to a destitute and an orphan child, while no financial assistance was being given in Gujarat to such children as they have been left on the mercy of God. The Haryana State was providing a scholarship amounting to Rs.75 to 400 per month to 19.72 lakh poor students of the state from first to twelfth classes, while Gujarat was providing annually a sum of Rs.125, thus only an average Rs.10.50 per month was being given to the students of these classes in Gujarat.
This is evident from the above comparison that the Haryana state has made leaps and bound progress in every sphere by leaving Gujarat far behind. He said that this had been possible only due to the visionary thinking of Chief Minister Mr.Bhupinder Singh Hooda, sagacious leadership of Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and able guidance of UPA Chairperson Mrs.Sonia Gandhi.
While taking a dig on the Gujarat Government, Prof. Virender pooh-poohed the claim of the opposition advocating Gujarat as a model state and maintained that Gujarat State could put a burden on the common man by levying the highest VAT on Diesel and Petrol, while it was far behind on providing social security and basic amenities to the people of the state. He revealed that the rate of diesel in Haryana was Rs.45.69 per liter, while in Gujarat it was Rs.52.70 per liter, thus seven rupees more than Haryana. The VAT on diesel in Haryana was only 9.24 percent, while it was Rs.26 percent in Gujarat. Similarly, petrol was costlier by Rs.4 per liter in Gujarat.
Prof. Virender was of the view that Haryana State has marched far ahead of Gujarat in providing basic amenities, in sports, in per capita income, in investment and other fields. He was of the view that in spite of Haryana levying the minimum VAT on diesel and petrol, it had made tremendous progress in every field.
