The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, March 6, 2001,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Parmanand counters Jacob
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5
The Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand, while addressing the state Vidhan Sabha today, crossed swords with his Punjab counterpart on the issues of Hindi-speaking areas, Chandigarh and river waters.

While the Punjab Governor in his Address to the state Assembly on March 1 had demanded the return of Punjabi-speaking areas still out of Punjab and Chandigarh to his state and resolving the river-water issue in accordance with the law of riparian states, Babu Parmanand said that great injustice had been done to the people of Haryana with regard to the remaining Hindi-speaking areas “in Chandigarh” and Punjab and the “non-receipt of its justified share of the Ravi-Beas water.”

However, a variation in the Hindi and English versions of the Address created confusion. While the Hindi version talked about the entire Union Territory of Chandigarh and Punjab, the English version mentioned only “Hindi-speaking areas in Chandigarh...”

Babu Parmanand also reiterated his government’s commitment to the construction of the SYL canal, the non-completion of which, he said, was a great loss not only to the state but also to the nation. However, keeping in line with the approach adopted by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, on the canal for the past several months, the Governor, too, soft-pedalled the issue in his Address. He did not spell out how his government proposed to complete the canal at the earliest. He simply asserted that the government was strongly defending the SYL canal case pending before the Supreme Court.

The issue was first taken to the Supreme Court by the Bhajan Lal government before 1996.

Babu Parmanand said an attack would be launched on corruption in its all manifestations and hoped that the assent of the President to the Lok Aukta Bill passed by the Vidhan Sabha would be received shortly. Asserting that the government was committed to making the administration clean, transparent and efficient, he said the state government believed in the dictum of “Lokraj loklaj se chalta hai” enunciated by the former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Devi Lal.

When the Governor was highlighting the state’s achievements in the power and irrigation sectors, he was interrupted by a Congress MLA, Dr Raghbir Singh Kadian, who described the Address as a “document of lies”. Dr Kadian tore up a copy of the Address before walking out of the House. His colleague, Mr Dharamvir, also pulled out two pages on which the achievements of the state government in these sectors were written. He said these should not form part of the Address.

Babu Parmanand continued to read out the Address, unmindful of the interruptions. The Congress Legislature Party leader, Mr Bhajan Lal, was seen trying to pacify his party MLAs.

The Governor said to provide a responsive administration at the grassroots level “a new era of accelerated development through an innovative programme of Sarkar Apke Dwar had been ushered in.” Out of 15,846 works taken up under the two phases of this programme, over 8,000 had already been completed.

Despite unsatisfactory rainfall and power shortage, the foodgrain production during 1999-2000 rose to a record level of 130.69 lakh tonnes against the target of 122.50 lakh tonnes. Production during 2000-2001 was expected to be 133.44 lakh tonnes. The government was making all-out efforts for the construction of storage dams in the Upper Yamuna river basin.

The new industrial policy had not only checked the flight of capital but also attracted sizeable new investment. The HSIDC organised two camps and land was allotted to 1,218 eligible applicants out of a total of 1,410 applicants. Thus, an investment of over Rs 7,000 crore had been catalysed in its various industrial estates with a potential of generating employment for about one lakh persons directly and many more by way of a quantum fillip to the economy of the state in the allied and services sector.

Babu Parmanand asserted that the government was striving hard to increase the power availability in the coming future. A 210 MW unit of the Panipat thermal station was likely to be synchronised by April next. A modernisation programme for the Panipat and Faridabad thermal stations had also been launched. Financial assistance for this programme had been sought from the Union Government under the accelerated power development programme.

The comprehensive Information Technology Policy-2000 would make information easily accessible to the people besides laying stress on the upgradation of human resource development.

Haryana Roadways had initiated a series of measures, including renovation and upgradation of its bus fleet, rationalisation of the schedule and routes, operation of more buses within the state. A new scheme for the privatisation of certain routes had been prepared to increase the participation of the private sector in the area of passenger transport.

Asserting that an environment of peace, prosperity and social harmony prevailed throughout the state, Babu Parmanand said the operating wings of the police force were in the process of being strengthened and modernised.