Haryanahas cancelled 2.91 lakh ration cards of ineligible beneficiaries in the region in the last three years. Its neighbourPunjabhas annulled 2.87 lakh such ration cards while the hill state ofHimachal Pradeshfound 59,435ration cardholders not entitled to enjoy the benefits of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) from 2018 to 2020.

Minister of state in the ministry of rural development and consumer affairs, food and public distribution Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti shared this information during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament on Tuesday. She said that under the National Act (NFSA), Aadhaar seeding of ration cards ensures uniqueness of beneficiaries in the Public Distribution System, avoiding duplicate or bogus ration cards. So far, more than 92% ration cards, at least one member of household, have been Aadhaar seeded at the national level. A total of 30 states and Union territories have completed the Aadhaar seeding of ration cards under NFSA, said the minister.

The TPDS is operated under the joint responsibilities of the central and the state/UT governments in which the operational responsibilities, such as identification of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, issuance of ration cards to them, allocation of foodgrains to all fair price shops, distribution to beneficiaries, licensing and monitoring of fair price shops, grievance redressal of beneficiaries lies with the concerned state or UT government.

Rs 1K cr for drainage system in villages, says Dushyant

Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said permanent arrangements are being made for drainage of rainwater with an expenditure of Rs 1,100 crore by the in order to protect the crops. He stated that from next year, arrangements will be made to ensure proper drainage of water from the waterlogged fields within four hours.

He said digital libraries will be set up in all state villages. The work of setting up libraries in 1,000 villages has been completed and by the end of the year, work of setting up libraries in 4,000 villages will be completed. Also, by 2024, the target of setting up digital libraries in all the state villages will be achieved.

Haryana to free urban areas of lal dora, action plan for mapping assets in 15 days

Following the pattern of villages, the process of making the urban areas free of lal dora has started inHaryana. State chief secretarySanjeev Kaushal directed the officers to prepare an action plan in 15 days for mapping of assets inside lal dora, using drones in urban areas as well.

Kaushal was presiding over the review meeting on the progress of SVAMITVA Yojana (ownership scheme).

He directed the officers to prepare master data of property IDs issued by department, town and country planning department, and Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran and in private colonies in order to know the actual situation, and share the information about lal dora with all municipal corporations, municipalities and committees.

He said the work of drones flying in villages under the SVAMITVA Yojana was almost complete and the work of making and distributing property cards was going on in a phased manner.
Now on the same lines, the work of lal dora free in urban areas will also be done expeditiously so that people can get their ownership rights.

Kaushal said Haryana was the first to start the lal dora-free scheme in the country, which was later implemented by the centre government across India.

Amid COVID-19 restrictions, Haryana Government has procured a total of 8493145 (84.93 lakh) metric tonnes of wheat from April 1 to May 15 across 396 procurement centers in the state during Rabi season 2021-22.

The Food and Civil Supplies Department has procured 2567599 MT, HAFED has procured 3622157 MT, has procured 694294 MT and Haryana Warehousing Corporation has procured 1609095 MT of wheat during 2021-22.

A total of 7798851 MT of wheat was procured through 915603 J Forms by the state procurement agencies and the total MSP of the procured crop was about Rs 15402.73 crore out of which a payment of Rs 15385.09 crore has been made directly into the accounts of the farmers through 914415 J Forms.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday launched the Haryana Engineering Works (HEW) portal to facilitate ease of access and doing business with the government for contractors in the state.

The contractors desiring to work in various projects of three primary engineering departments of the state namely Public Works Department, Irrigation-and-water”>Irrigation and water Resources Department and Public Health Engineering Department will benefit from this portal.

The portal will enable the contractors desirous of participating in various tenders of these departments to register themselves for the purpose. Every contractor will have to create a profile on it and they would be exempted from bearing Earnest Deposit (EMD) if they provide certain essential details for registration on the portal.

Khattar also directed that startups and new entrepreneurs should also be facilitated through this portal and expressed his hope that the portal would prove as a game-changer in providing an accessible and simple platform for the contractors which would also be a single-point reference for providing necessary information to the prospective bidders of the departments.

KU teachers to get Haryana Sanskrit Academy award

Two teachers of Kurukshetra University (KU) have been honoured by the Haryana Academy. While Surendra Mohan Mishra, a retired Professor of Sanskrit from department of KU will receive Acharya Sthanu Dutt Award for the year 2017, Lalit Kumar Gaur, Professor of Sanskrit, KU will receive Maharishi Vedavyasa Samman for the year 2018.

KU vice-chancellor Prof Som Nath Sachdeva congratulated Prof Mishra and Prof Gaur for this noteworthy achievement. Prof Som Nath said that it is a matter of great honour and pride for KU which was established as a Sanskrit University in 1956 and whose foundation stone was laid by the first president of India, Bharat Ratna Rajendra Prasad in 1957.

Haryana civic bodies to get Rs 4100 cr for development works

To complete the works at the local level in a time-bound and expeditious manner, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that the Government is committed to give full autonomy to the local governments, that is the municipal bodies.

For the year 2022-23, out of the State’s Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) of about Rs 65,000 crore, about Rs 3,600 crore will be given to the municipal bodies. Apart from this, an additional Rs 500 crore will be given for the previous dues. In this way, the municipal bodies will get Rs 4,100 crore to get development works done at their own level, said Khattar, adding that a total amount of Rs 5,000 crore is already available in all the municipal bodies.

Khattar said that a state-level committee should be constituted for restructuring and rationalization in the municipal bodies, which would conduct a complete study by visiting the municipal bodies. Instructing the officers, he said that a common portal should be made for auction of properties in all municipal bodies.

Haryana Govt to set up a call centre to offer employment related assistance to citizens

After implementing 75 percent reservation for people of the state in private jobs, the Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana has decided to set up a call centre to provide assistance to its citizens and seek feedback on various aspects related to EMPLOYMENT. The outbound call centre is proposed to be launched to provide personalized assistance to the job seekers, offer information on different government policies and schemes, redress grievances of citizens and address the queries of job seekers. Besides this, a bulk messaging service is also planned to be started by the government to connect to the citizens on employment related issues.

The Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 that reserves 75 per cent of jobs in the private sector in Haryana offering a salary of less than Rs 30,000 a month only to locals came into effect on January 15, 2022. Under this, any local candidate (resident of Haryana) aggrieved by the action of any employer in violation of any provision of the Act, can file a complaint with the government.

Haryana Government’s Excise and Taxation Department has recorded an increase in revenue by 65 percent this year as compared to previous financial year.

Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, who also holds the portfolio of Excise and Department, on Sunday said that during this excise year 2021-22 till August 26, 2021 from all four types of tax (VAT, CST, GST and Excise) of the department, a revenue of Rs 20,558 crore has been collected, whereas in the same period last year, Rs 12,831 crore was received by the Government.

There has been an increase of 65 percent in the said period as compared to last year, he said. Giving information about the total revenue collected from VAT, CST, GST and Excise during the last 3 years, he said that Rs 37,350 crore in the year 2018-19, Rs 39,837 crore in the year 2019-20 and Rs 45,119 crore in the year 2020-21 had been collected as revenue. The Deputy Chief Minister further informed that for the year 2020-21, the liquor contracts of the Excise Department were auctioned for Rs 3,559 crore while the reserve price was Rs 3,128 crore.

He said that for the excise year 2021-22, those who already had licenses were given the option to take contracts with an increase of 10 percent and thus 85 percent of the contracts were renewed.

In this excise year, revenue from liquor contracts amounting to Rs. 3,803 crore was received in the form of fees, he added.

He also said that during the year 2020, an additional quota of 32.42 percent of country liquor and 25.45 percent of foreign liquor made in India was raised.

Dushyant informed that during the inspection in the excise year 2020-21, 1,249 cases were caught for violating the rules, in which a fine of Rs 257 crore was imposed on defaulters. About Rs. 136 crore has also been recovered from them, he added.

Haryana to increase area under natural farming from 6k to 25k acres

Haryana Government has decided to increase the area under natural farming from 6,000 acres to 25,000 acres that is by more than 300 percent. This effort will not only save water but also improve Health, said the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday while speaking at the concluding session of the two-day Water Conclave organized by the Haryana Resources“>Water Resources Authority under Amrit Jal Kranti in Panchkula.

Khattar, during his address, also announced that the area under direct seeding of paddy has been increased by 275 percent 73,000 acres to nearly two lakh acres which will save 218 MCM of water. For this, provision will be made for availability of machinery and subsidy.

Apart from this, the Chief Minister also announced that more than 9500 water sources would be renovated in the next two years, including 5308 ponds, 63 check Dams, 81 shallow tubewells, and 4000 recharge borewells.