Chandigarh, August 27 – Addressing the burning issue of corruption gripping the nation for the last few days, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda today called upon the people to make a joint effort in wiping out this social evil from the society.
The Chief Minister said this while addressing a large public meeting at Bhiwani today where he laid the foundation stones of 33 KV substations in the villages of Baliyali, Mandhana and Badsi and to declared village Baliyali as a model village.
Appreciating the suggestions voiced by the Congress General Secretary, Mr. Rahul Gandhi for eradicating corruption in the country during his Lok Sabha address yesterday, Mr. Hooda said that a number of other steps also needed to be taken to meet this challenge. Taking a dig at the recent statements being issued by the former Chief Minister, Mr. Om Parkash Chautala, he said that it was strange that such a person, who was himself facing a number of charges in Court for indulging in corrupt practices, was talking about removing corruption. He asked the people to assess for themselves as to which Chief Minister had worked for the development of the State and welfare of all sections of the society and added that he did not want to criticize any person but would rather depend on the verdict of the people.
Mr. Hooda said that the State Government was making efforts to make Haryana self dependent in the field of power. In the period between the years 2005 to 2009, a target for generating 5000 MW of additional power had been fixed and four new power projects had been set up to meet this goal. Out of these, two projects had started functioning and the other two were likely to start by the end of the next year. The power generation capacity of the State was 1587.7 MW earlier, but in the tenure of the present government it had grown to 3480.5 MW.
He informed that the three sub-stations coming up in district Bhiwani would supply power to 15 to 20 villages in the area and would be set up at a cost of Rs. 6.98 crore. He added that during the period between the years 1999 and 2005 a sum of Rs. 60 crore had been spent on setting up sub-stations in district Bhiwani whereas between the years 2005 and 2011, a sum of Rs. 251 crore had been spent for the same purpose.
Detailing the steps taken for the welfare of the farmers Mr. Hooda said that the pending electricity dues of the farmers worth Rs. 1600 crore had been waived, the minimum support price for various crops has been increased, the draconian law for arresting farmers in case of non-repayment of loan had been abolished and many other similar decisions had also been made in the larger interest of the farming community.
On this occasion, Mr. Hooda announced to give a sum of Rs. 10 lakh out of his discretionary fund for constructing paved lane upto the Baliyali Gaushala.