Former CM, Deepender lauded for contribution towards getting Metro link for Jhajjar’s

Bahadurgarh :
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his son and Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda and Jhajjar MLA Geeta Bhukkal rode by Metro from Mundka in Delhi to the City Parkstation here.

They arrived here to attend the ‘Nagrik Abhinandan’ ceremony organised by local Congress leaders to honour the father-son duo for their contribution in extension of the trainup to Bahadurgarh.

During the ceremony, Congress leaders gave them credit for the Metro link. The state government was decried for the delay in the project and not letting Deepender to speak during the inauguration on June 24.

“As per protocol, the state government is bound to invite the MP concerned for such programmes and give time to express views. The BJP government violated protocol by not allowing Deepender to speak during the inaugural function of the Metro link,” said Hooda during the ‘Nagrik Abhinandan’.

The former Chief Minister said his government and Deepender had left no stone unturned to bring the Metro to Bahadurgarh to facilitate thousands of people working in various fields here and to usher in a new era of development.

It was for the first time that the Haryana Government paid a share of expenses borne by the Delhi Government to ensure extension of the Metro to Bahadurgarh, he added.
Hooda announced extension of Metro to other parts of the state if the Congress was voted to power in the next Assembly elections. He suggested to Deepender to boycott government programmes in the future as the BJP government did not have faith in protocol.

Blaming the BJP government for the deteriorating condition of farmers in the state, he advised Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar to work for betterment of farmers instead of dancing over their destruction.

“It is surprising that famers are struggling to earn their livelihood due to erroneous government policies while the Agriculture Minister is dancing instead of bailing them out of the crisis,” said Hooda.

He added that farmers had reached the verge of devastation during the BJP regime. Deepender, Bhukkal and Congress MLA Raghubir Kadian also spoke on the occasion.

Leaders confident of taking leverage of welfare schemes for 2019
 

Faridabad :
The two-day meetings of the state executive of the Haryana BJP concluded on Sunday evening, with the party leaders hoping to cash in on the success of their various welfare schemes for “Mission 2019”.

The second day of the meeting saw the participation of senior level party leaders, including the Chief Minister, MPs, Union ministers and MLAs from Haryana.
Addressing the meeting at the HUDA Convention centre here, Anil Jain, Rajya Sabha MP and in charge of the state BJP, claimed that the work and achievements of both the state and Union government had a far-reaching impact and would surely pave the way for strengthening the party roots at various levels.

Dwelling on the recent hike in the MSP of various crops, Jain said while it benefited lakhs of farmers, it was for the first time in the post-Independence era that a government had increased the MSP of crops by 150 per cent.

Describing the PM as “Kisan Ratan”, he said it would result in additional income of Rs 73,000 crore to the farming sector.

Asking the party leaders to fan out in their respective constituencies to create awareness among the people at booth level, Jain said the success and impact of the national-level schemes launched by the Union Government could be made a plank for the smooth return in the next polls. He said while the BJP government opened 33 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts, a benefit of Rs 67,000 crore had been provided through various schemes in the past four years.

Claiming that the progress made on various fronts during the Modi regime had been more than the 70 years of governance, he said it was time that the masses must be contacted and taken into confidence over the results gained or to be achieved in near future.

He said while the meeting reviewed the work done at the ground level since the last visit of BJP president Amit Shah, he announced that senior leaders of the party were being assigned the responsibility at the district level in which focus would be the booth access.

“The party will work to get all 10 Lok Sabha and a minimum of 65 Assembly seats in the next polls,’’ he added. State BJP chief Subhash Barala and CM Manohar Lal Khattar also addressed the meeting.

Palwal :
Alleging that a land mafia engaged in carving illegal residential plots and colonies is active in Palwal district, local MLA Karan Singh Dalal has demanded a high-level probe into the matter.

Claiming that he has taken up the matter with the departmental committee of the state Assembly (Vidhan Sabha), he said a ground-level inquiry has been launched by the local authorities.

He said that a probe at a higher level could reveal the nexus between the land mafia and political persons associated with the ruling party.

Alleging that plotting had been done on at least 250 to 300 acres in and around the city, he said it could not be done without influence within the local administration as no NOC has been taken from the department concerned in the majority of cases of land registration done in the past 3-4 years.

This pointed towards rampant corruption in the local Revenue Department, he alleged.

Several illegal colonies have come up in the neighbourhood of some prime areas like the Mini Secretariat, Sector 2 and Omaxe city here.

He said that while no basic amenities had been provided in most colonies, the land mafia had charged premium rates, claiming that these spots could turn expensive in view of the anticipation of new projects likely to be set up in the district.

Karan Singh Dalal also claimed that the issue of damage to houses in some colonies located at a higher level -- raised by him in the last Assembly session -- had also started bearing results. The local civic body has started a survey of such houses on directions of the departmental committee of the state Assembly.

It would help in knowing the extent of damage caused mainly by the caving in of the land and faulty pipelines and sewerage connections and the measures needed to check the problem.

Claiming that around 80-90 such colonies had come up illegally in the past 15-20 years, Mohan Singh, a local resident, claimed that a population of around one lakh had been residing without the proper facilities of water and sewerage connections primarily due to their being unauthorised colonies.

Denying the charges of illegal registration, Pradeep Deswal, Tehsildar, Palwal, claimed that all the registrations were done as per norms and the NOC condition was mandatory for many areas in the city.

Vows to raise farmers’ issues with more vigour in ‘Jan Aakrosh Yatra’

New Delhi :
Former Haryana Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda rubbished hike in the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy and other crops by the BJP-led NDA government, dubbing it as “gimmick” perpetuated by in view of the upcoming Assembly elections in states and General Election.

He batted for computation of cost inputs for MSP on C2 formula, and said he would press for farmers’ welfare issues with more vigour during his ongoing “Jan Aakrosh Yatra”. The upcoming fourth phase of the yatra will be kicked off in Fatehabad district with a public meeting in Tohana on July 22.

The C2 formula takes into account cost of land and rental and other factors like burgeoning cost of miscellanies ( hidden costs) which push up overall cost inputs.
Farmers’ representatives, especially from Haryana called on the former Chief Minister here on Friday and expressed disappointment over the hike in MSP by the Central government.

Hooda said: “The Union government has fallen short of farmers’ expectations. It flattered to deceive which has caused anxiety in the farming community.”
“The Centre has made misleading claims that the announced hike in prices of paddy and other crops is fulfillment of the promise for implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendation,” he said, and added that the panel had recommended how the cost of production should be calculated and the MSP should be fixed on the basis with 50 per cent profit margin.

Calculations of what the farmers should get according to the Swaminathan Commission recommendations and what the Centre has announced presents an yawning chasm and losses to farmers cutting across crops.

“ The Centre has deliberately used a criterion to compute costs which excludes important aspects,” he said.

Also, there is no guarantee that the farmers will get even the price announced as the procurement operations of the Union government are being deliberately cut forcing farming to sell at distress prices.

Hooda had headed a four-members working group of the chief ministers constituted by Manmohan Singh-led UPA government to study, inter alia, on ways to improve farmers’ lot. The other chief ministers, who were on the group, included Parkash Singh Badal ( Punjab) and Nitish Kumar (Bihar).

Criticising the Centre, he said that during the UPA regime from 2005-2014, the annual average MSP on paddy was 62 per cent. The MSPs during NDA, including the present hike, is much below it.

He said the farmers in Haryana are in greater distress on account of apathy of the state government. He faulted the government for, among others, levying GST on fertiliser and enhancing VAT on diesel.

Centre of Excellence for Vegetables shows the way
 

Karnal :
No cultivation of vegetables in saline, alkaline and sandy soil will be a thing of the past as the Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Vegetables (CEV) in Gharaunda and Potato Technology Centre (PTC) in Shamgarh are getting good results of soilless cultivation technique for producing vegetables.

As per data, 3,15,617 hectares are affected with salinity and alkalinity (sodic) in Haryana. Of these, 1,45,054 hectares are saline while 1,70,563 hectares are sodic.
Under this technique, instead of soil, the crops are grown in soilless media, meant of coco-pit, a fibre made out of coconut husk, and two mineral rocks, including vermiculite and perlite, along with water, which is pre-treated with essential micro-nutrients in green houses.

Coco-pit can be used separately, without vermiculite and perlite, as soilless media. But the combination of the trio gives better environment for plant roots, says an expert of the CEV. This technology will revolutionise farming in affected areas.
The CEV has been using this technology for the last four years while the PTC has adopted the technology for the production of micro-tubers of potato for the last one year. As per the authorities, both institutes have recorded good results.
It has helped in eradicating nematodes, an insect, and soil-borne pathogens, which have become a serious problem for green houses technology or protected cultivation technology. These affect the root system of the plant.

“The trial on soilless cultivation technology is going on and giving results as per expectations at the CEV for the benefit of the farming community. The production of cucumber, regular tomato, cherry tomato and capsicum in soilless technique is equal to production of these vegetables in soil,” said Ram Swarup Punia, Superintendent Horticulture, CEV.

“Initially, we witnessed several kinds of hurdles, including accurate proportion of all three components for mixture, requirement of water for this mixture and fertiliser doses and maintaining the level of pH and electric conductivity and chemical properties of soil, but now we have overcome all the hurdles and developed a protocol of growing vegetables in soilless media,” said Dr Krishan Kumar, Horticulture Development Officer, CEV.

Coco-pit is easily available at a cost of Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kg while mineral rocks, including vermiculate, are available at Rs 25 per kg and perlite agriculture grade at Rs 70 to Rs 75 a kg. The mixture increases production cost by about Rs 25 per plant in three years (around Rs 8 per year) as the same mixture can be used continuously for three years.

“If we go with soil cultivation, we have to bear the cost of soil preparation, chemical for soil-borne pathogen and insect-pest, but in soilless technique we need not spend money on soil preparation and chemicals,” said Dr Satyender Yadav, Deputy Director Horticulture, PTC.

“We are using only coco-pit as the soilless medium. It has helped us in growing mini-tuber production without the use of soil,” said Dr Yadav.
He maintained that coco-pit cakes were dipped in water and leached several times until electrical conductivity was attained below 2 mmhos and 5.7 pH. Coco-pit was spread over the plastic sheet. Hardened micro- plants were transplanted in the coco-pit medium and irrigated at regular intervals.