Chandigarh: The newly constituted 12th
Haryana Assembly, which met for a one-day session here today,
witnessed war of words and heated exchanges between the ruling
Congress and opposition INLD over various issues including the
Sutlej Yamuna Link canal.
Speaking on Governor`s address, INLD supremo and former
Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, whose party returned with
31 MLAs in the 90-member House launched a scathing attack on
the Congress accusing it of delaying construction of SYL
canal, not taking any step to end power shortage in the state,
and failing to respond to the worsening law and order
situation.
"Despite scanty rainfall and drought in Haryana this year,
the Government (previous Hooda regime) did not declare the
state as drought-hit. The government, which claims itself as
pro-farmers, failed to do anything for them," Chautala said.
He further said that the Congress government had delayed
the construction of SYL "despite the fact that no case was
pending in any court against its construction."
However, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in his
reply made a reference to the termination of inter-state water
agreements by the Punjab Assembly in 2004, saying that a
reference in this regard was made by the President of India to
the Supreme Court, which would be decided soon.
"I can assure that we are committed to bring SYL waters
for Haryana," Hooda said.
Chautala also took a dig at the state government for
commercialising education, saying "colleges and even
universities have been opened without adequate infrastructure.
I fear there is a scam involved in the name of making Haryana
an education hub and I would like an inquiry be held in this
regard."
The INLD supremo also lashed out at the government for
failing to protect the dignity of women in the state, claiming
that an incident of rape and loot daily occurs, while
incidents of ransom, too had become the order of the day.
He also alleged that Haryana had "wasted" Rs 600 crore as
its share given to Centre for the International Airport here,
saying "its name was still Mohali (which falls in Punjab)
International airport".
Hooda however, offered to resign, saying after Haryana`s
intervention, the Centre had changed the upcoming airport`s
name to Chandigarh International Airport, "We have also
proposed to the Centre that naming it after Shaheed Bhagat
Singh will also be fine," the CM said.
State BJP president Krishan Pal Gujjar termed the
previous Hooda government as a "regime which only made
announcements."
On the power situation, Hooda said that his previous
government had inherited the problem, but assured that the
state would have enough power within next two years, once the
new power plants in the state start generation.
Bureau Report
