Rs 8.94 cr spent on Gita Mahotsav

Chandigarh, February 27

The government spent over Rs 8.94 crore on organising the International Gita Mahotsav in Kurukshetra from November 23 to December 10 last year, the Assembly was informed today.

Giving this information to INLD MLA Abhay Chautala, Urban Local Bodies Minister Anil Vij said the amount included Rs 1.15 crore for multi-media show, Rs 1.1 crore for creation of main ‘pandal’ for cultural programmes and over 84.63 lakh for organising cultural programmes.

Vij said temporary electrification accounted for an expenditure of Rs 71.83 lakh, international seminar on Gita for Rs 44 lakh, temporary tents over Rs 45 lakh and accommodation for over Rs 46 lakh.

He said Rs 29.84 lakh was spent on the event of chanting of Gita ‘shlokas’ by 18,000 students, Rs 28.64 lakh on publicity and Rs 23.25 lakh on press conferences.

Vij said the other major expenditure included food and refreshment (Rs 30.62 lakh), flower decoration (Rs 26.93 lakh), erection of Haryana Pavillion (Rs 34.17 lakh) and repair of Brahma Sarovar at Jyotisar (Rs 40.52 lakh).

60 illegal farmhouses

Sixty illegal farmhouses have come up in Faridabad and Gurugram districts in the eco-sensitive Aravalli zone between 2000 and 2020, Forest Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar said. Replying to a question listed by Seema Trikha, Gujjar said there was no proposal to regularise these and action as per the law would be taken in due course. Since some farmhouse owners had approached the SC, the state government would wait for its directions to initiate further action, he said.

Punjabi in 2,723 schools

Punjabi had been declared the second language of Haryana as per a notification of May 29, 1996, said Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar. He said it was not covered under the National Skills Qualifications Framework. Gujjar said there were 1,490 private and 1,223 government schools in state teaching Punjabi.

9,820 cancer patients

A total of 9,820 cancer patients were detected in the state from 2018-19 to 2019-20 (up to December 2019) , Health Minister Anil Vij said.