Chandigarh, November 13 - Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal today began his second innings of the new Government by directing the senior officers of the State to focus towards seven main points of public interest namely making the state drug-free, taking serious cognizance of 'Haryana Vision Zero' programme aimed for reducing the death rate in road accidents, BPL card, Swachhta Abhiyan, Crop residue management and Swachh Survekshan -2020 to be launched by the Government of India from January 1, 2020.
The Chief Minster gave these directions while presiding over a meeting of the Deputy Commissioners through Video Conferencing in Haryana Civil Secretariat here today. The Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Dushyant Chautala was also present in the meeting.
During the meeting, the Chief Minster also gave necessary directions to the concerned officials to make strict security arrangements for the upcoming Teacher Eligibility Test (HTET), to be held on November 16 and 17 by the Haryana Education Board. He directed the officers to conduct the examination in a systematic manner by keeping a close vigil to prevent unfair means including cheating, forgery and impersonation.
The Chief Minister asked the officials to ensure proper security check is done before the candidates enter in the examination center to avoid use of unfair means. It was informed that about 2.84 lakh candidates will appear for the teacher eligibility test and 367 examination centers have been set up at 24 places in all 22 districts of the state. Section 144 will be imposed around the examination centers and no Photostat shop will be open nearby. The Chief Minister also reviewed the arrangements made by all the Deputy Commissioners for conducting Teacher Eligibility Test (HTET) through video conferencing. The Chief Minister also gave instructions to the police officers for the smooth management of traffic.
Talking over the ongoing issue of stubble burning, the Chief Minister said that Deputy Commissioners will have to pay special attention towards ensuring that no framer in the State should involve in stubble burning. He said that in compliance with the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal, the State Government will also have to work out various measures emphasising on getting the permanent solution of this problem.
He said that recently, the Haryana government has announced to give an incentive of Rs. 100 per quintal to the small and marginal farmers for management of stubble and prevent its burning. However, this amount would only be applicable to the non-basmati paddy procured by the Government and will be given through the Deputy Commissioner. He said that only those farmers should be given benifit of the scheme who do not burn stubble.
In addition to this, taking a major step, in the direction of preventing stubble burning, the Government has also announced that for the In Situ and Ex Situ management of crop residue by the small and the marginal farmers of non Basmati paddy, the State Government would bear a sum of Rs 1000 per acre as operational cost to the Custom Hiring Centers (CHC) or Straw Baler unit owners.
He said that the Deputy Commissioner of every district has appointed one Nodal officer in every village for the management of crop residue and its proper Ex-situ and In-situ management and they should seriously ensure that no farmer is involved in stubble burning. He further informed that in five districts including Kaithal Fatehabad Sirsa Jind and Hisar Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary level officers have been appointed for the guidance and monitoring of this scheme. The Chief Minister further directed the Deputy Commissioners that the sowing of wheat should be completed by November 15 and for this the necessary stock of urea and other fertilizers has been made available with the department.
Emphasizing on drug de-addiction, Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal said that it is the problem mainly of the northern states. He said that taking a lead in this direction, the State has already held two meetings of Chief Ministers of Northern States and senior officials of other agencies. He said that a Joint Secretariat for Drug Abuse Control is being set up in Panchkula. The Chief Minister said that just as the cooperation of the Khap Panchayats and other enlightened people of the society was taken in making the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign a success; in the same way their cooperation should be taken in the drug de-addiction campaign.
Speaking on the occasion, Director General of Police, Mr. Manoj Yadav informed the Chief Minister that the Haryana Police is continuously campaigning for the prevention of illicit sale of narcotics and in Sirsa district alone, 2087 cases have been registered and 2717 persons have been arrested. He further shared that the police recovered 2.266 quintals of intoxicant substance.
Principal Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Mrs. Neerja Shekhar informed the Chief Minister that a total of 74 de-addiction centers are presently operational the State. Apart from this coordination committees have been set up at the district level, which are doing regular meetings over the issue.
The Chief Minister said that the de-addiction centers should be operated in a proper manner, even the private license should be given according to the rules. He further directed the officers that availability of necessary staff should be ensured in all the de-addiction centers.
In the meeting, Mr. Manohar Lal said that rising road accidents are also a matter of great concern and a challenge for the State. He said that overloading of trucks and other vehicles is also a major reason for the road accidents and the concerned officials should challan such overloaded vehicles. He said that regular meetings of District Road Safety Councils should be held. People should be made aware of traffic rules. Traffic signs and accident prone areas on national highways potentially dangerous turns should be marked with special signs so that the driver becomes alert in advance.
The Chief Minister was also informed that after the implementation of Haryana Vision Zero, there has been an 11 percent decrease in road accidents in the state in two months. MoU with Haryana Road Safety Associate has also been extended for the next two months.
Giving information about the BPL card to the Chief Minister in the meeting, it was informed that due to model code of conduct, the work of making new BPL cards was closed. It was informed that 4 lakh 38 thousand new applications have been received in rural areas and 2 lakh 15 thousand in urban areas. With this online applications have also been sought for making BPL cards.
The Chief Minister was informed that the new BPL cards are being made as per increased annual limit of Rs 1.80 lakhs by the State Government, while the Central government's annual income limit was of Rs 1.20 lakhs. The new data of the BPL cards will be available after 30 November.
The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Mrs. Keshani Anand Arora, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. V. Umashankar, Additional Chief Secretary Home Department, Mrs. Navraj Sandhu, Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal, Additional Chief Secretary Public Works (Building and Roads), Mr. Alok Nigam, Additional Chief Secretary Power Department Mr. T C Gupta.