Haryana CM sets out post-Covid measures
Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 15
Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar on Tuesday said measures taken by the state government has check-mated the COVID-19 pandemic and set out the contours of futures plan to revive the economy for faster and coordinated growth of the state.
The improvement in Haryana’s sex ratio which reached to 930 (females):1000 (males) in 2019-20 from the dismal 851(females): 1000 (males) in 2014, was hailed by Khattar as a success of government-sustained efforts towards women empowerment.
“The government sincerely implemented the “Beti Bachhao, Beti Padhao” drive, a call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Panipat in 2015,” Khattar said at a webinar on Tuesday evening.
The webinar was on “How Haryana is fighting the COVID-19 crisis – The Way Forward”, organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia.
Khattar said the pandemic had thrown normal life out of kelter but the state government was able to curtail its spread except for in Faridabad, Gurgaon, Jhajjhar and Sonipat districts, which were affected by the overspread of the disease in nearby Delhi.
These districts account for 80 per cent of the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state.
He said the recovery rate of those afflicted in the state was over 75 per cent and the active cases as per the latest count were about 4,900.
During the period of the lockdown, the government ramped up its health infrastructure, including facilities of 15,000 beds in isolation wards.
Khattar said post-lockdown normalcy was returning at pace and as much as 50 per cent of trade and commerce had resumed operations. The power consumed in June was 80 per cent of the consumption level the same period last year, he added.
The demand and consumption of goods and services had started picking up, Chief Minister ML Khattar said.
He attributed this zoom to more liquidities in the rural market on account of direct transfer of cash to farmers’ account accruing from the government’s recent purchase of wheat and ‘sarson’.
A total of about Rs 20,000 crore was deposited in the accounts of farmers, which boosted their purchasing power and the consequent rise in the demand for goods.
Chief Minister ML Khattar said Haryana had tweaked its land and labour policies to promote ease of doing business and to make the state an attractive destination for investment.
Land could now be acquired by prospective investors on a lease basis. New Industrial units would be exempted from the Factory Act and Industrial Dispute Act for a period of 1000 days, the CM added.
The post-COVID plans include setting up of sector-wise industrial clusters in each of the 22 districts. The focus will be on agri-based processing units.
Responding to a question, he said neither Haryana government had asked any Chinese firm to wind of their business nor there was any report of them planning to shift in the context of deteriorating relation between India and China.
“But in the future, firms of other countries planning to invest in Haryana will be given preference,” Khattar said.
With regard pollution caused by stubble burning, he said there was a plan to set up an ethanol plant in Panipat which would be used as its raw material. “Also, there is a plan to use stubble in the production of other things like energy. This will help eradicate the curse of stubble burning,” Chief Minister ML Khattar added.
With regards to measures to keep the Yamuna waters clean, he hoped that the Centre and the Delhi government would take remedial measures. Also, the proposed three dams, including in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand would go a long way to keep the river clean, Chief Minister ML Khattar said.
