Chandigarh, May 11: Haryana Government has urged the Central Government to authorize the States to take decisions at their own level to resume the the industrial and economic activities in Green, Orange, and Red zones except containment zones. The Central Government has already granted permission to resume these activities in a phased manner.

The Chief Minister raised these demands during the meeting presided over by the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi with the Chief Ministers of all the states through video conferencing today.

The Chief Minister said that in this hour of crisis, the amendments in labour laws should not become a matter of competition among the states. He assured the Prime Minister that all out efforts will be made to bring the GDP rate of Haryana in the second quarter of Financial Year- 2020-21 to the level of the second quarter of the Financial Year 2019-20

He thanked the Prime Minister for acceding to his request made during the previous video conference held on April 27, 2020 to end the uncertainty prevailing around the conduct of competitive examinations like Combined Defense Services, JEE, and NEET for admissions into NDA, Engineering Colleges, and Medical Colleges. Expressing concern over the future of the youth, Mr. Manohar Lal once again also urged the Central Government to consider opening schools, colleges, and educational institutions running professional courses with 50 percent limit to maintain social distancing norms.

He said the Prime Minister that the documentation of the efforts made by the State Government in the fight against COVID-19 is being done under the guidance of Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA).

The Chief Minister said that Haryana has brought about many reforms and launched new schemes during this period. He said that 'Meri Fasal Mera Byora' has been launched under which the farmers provide the details of their crops. Similarly, 'Parivar Pehchaan Patra', 'Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojna' and declaring villages free from 'Lal Dora' to give ownership rights to the concerned land owners. He said that this scheme of the State Government was also mentioned by the Prime Minister in his Mann Ki Baat programme on the occasion of National Panchayati Divas.

He said that Haryana has launched 'Mera Pani Meri Virasat' scheme to take forward its earlier scheme 'Jal Hi Jeevan Hai' mission to encourage the farmers to diversify their crops to other alternative crops which grow with less water instead of paddy in paddy growing areas.

He said that to provide financial assistance to 5.03 lakh families ranging from Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 under 'Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana', an amount of Rs. 154 crore has been transferred to the accounts of beneficiaries. He informed that the work of Census-2021 which has stopped due to the lockdown and during these days we have conducted the survey work of needs and resources of 25 lakh families through the constitution of 20,000 local committees and have stored this data digitally.

He informed that the State Government has issued distress ration tokens to about 3.73 lakh families who did not have any kind of ration card in order to enable them to get free ration. Similarly, about 13.4 lakh families were given the financial assistance of Rs 553 crore by direct transfer into their accounts.

The Chief Minister informed that by making changes in the public distribution system, Haryana has removed ineligible beneficiaries. As a result of which the Food Corporation of India now has a surplus of 45,000 Metric Tonnes of foodgrains to be allocated to Haryana. Therefore, Haryana has requested that the Food Corporation of India be directed to use it from May to August to give free ration to families with distress ration tokens.

The Chief Minister said that the State Government has taken forward the process of procurement of Rabi crops by maintaining the social distancing norms and till now about 66 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and mustard have been procured and about 15 lakh metric tonnes is further expected to be procured. He said that this will lead to crediting the accounts of farmers with Rs 22,000 crore.

The Chief Minister informed that about 24 lakh laborers work in about 35,000 factories in Haryana, out of which 14 lakh industrial workers have returned to work. He said that to overcome the mental stress in the people arising due to lockdown, AYUSH Department has prepared products to increase immunity and these are being distributed free to everyone.

On the appeal of the Government, the labourers have been paid their salaries even for the period they haven't worked. Hence, the labourers should be given single salary for working overtime for the same period, the Chief Minister suggested.

During the video conferencing, Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Dushyant Chautala, Home and Health Minister, Mr. Anil Vij, Chief Secretary, Mrs. Keshni Anand Arora, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Rajesh Khullar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. V. Umashankar, Additional Chief Secretary Home, Mr. Vijay Vardhan, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal, Additional Chief Health, Mr. Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Mr. T.V.S.N Prasad, Director General of Police, Mr. Manoj Yadava and other senior officers were also present.