Punjab will have to give up its stubbornness over SYL issue: Khattar

 

Chandigarh, December 20

 Haryana Chief Minister  Manohar Lal Khattar said that in a democratic country, states cannot run arbitrarily and Punjab will have to give up its stubbornness over the issue of SYL. He hoped that Haryana will definitely get its rightful share of water.

Addressing a Jal Adhikar Rally at ITI ground in Narnaul today, the Chief Minister said that the SYL case had been pending for decades. As soon as the present government was formed, a plea to hear the matter ahead of time was made, after which the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Haryana. The court had asked the Chief Ministers of both the states to sit down and decide but Punjab did not agree to give Haryana its rightful share.

He said that in democracy there is a way to protest. Protests can be made before the House and the media or by gathering democratically.

On this occasion, Mr. Manohar Lal assured the farmers that he would leave politics if there was any kind of threat to Minimum Support Price (MSP). He said that the government is thinking beyond MSP through the new agricultural laws. MSP will continue like before. Similarly, mandis will continue to function as well, he added. He said that some people are agitating politically, they are not farmer-friendly. We should talk about SYL water with the farmers of Punjab sitting on the border, he added.

The Chief Minister said that all three new agricultural laws are for the benefit of farmers. This will free the farmers from bondage, he added. He said that the government will procure the crop from farmers in the mandis at MSP, but if the farmer wants to sell it outside at a higher price, he will have complete freedom to do so. In addition, these new laws also aim to improve the storage system, he added.

The Chief Minister said that under this reform process, the government has made 88 mandis online out of 104 mandis in the state. He said that due to lack of proper storage, every year there is loss of food grains worth Rs. 30,000 crore in the country. Even in Haryana, food grains worth Rs 700 crore go bad, therefore the government is making efforts to save this food grain, he added. He said that Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi is the true benefactor of farmers. There is a dire need for storage reforms and sales reforms in the country and to fulfill this, the government has enacted these laws, he added.

Mr. Manohar Lal said that the opposition parties are trying to deceive the farmers in which they will never succeed. The opposition does not want the farmers' income to increase so that they can take good care of their children, he added. He said that in 2010, a committee was formed by the previous government under the chairmanship of former Chief Minister, Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Mr. Hooda had advocated for reform in the APMC Act, but today the same opposition parties are sitting on the border and provoking the people.

The Chief Minister said that in the interest of the farmers of the state, a new micro-irrigation scheme has been started. Bhiwani-Dadri and Mahendragarh districts have been included under this scheme, he added. He said that, under this, water will be made available to fields where there is scarcity. The farmers there will be provided irrigation equipment at 80 percent subsidy, he added. He said that the government will make arrangements in every possible way to provide water if a farmer comes up with a plan to bring 25 acres of land under irrigation from January 1, 2021.

He said that after the formation of the government water has been made available uptil every tail-end by dividing the available water equally. A scheme worth Rs 2000 crore has been made to raise the groundwater level in southern Haryana, by releasing excess rainwater into the rivers Krishnavati, Dohan, and Sahabi. Similarly, the MoU of Renuka-Kishau dam has been done and the MoU of Lakhwar dam will be signed soon. This work will be completed in a time-bound manner, he added.

Mr. Manohar Lal said that the State Government had called upon the farmers to quit paddy cultivation, which resulted in farmers planting paddy on 80,000 acres of less land last year.

On this occasion, Union Minister, Mr. Rao Inderjit Singh, Haryana Agriculture Minister, Mr. JP Dalal, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Mr. OP Yadav, State President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. OP Dhankar, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP, Mr. Dharambir Singh, Ateli MLA, Mr. Sita Ram, Prithla MLA, Mr. Nayan Pal Rawat, Former Education Minister, Mr. Ram Bilas Sharma among others also addressed the gathering. MLA, Nangal Chaudhary, Dr. Abhe Singh Yadav conducted the stage.

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