2010 Mirchpur violence: Khattar lays foundation stone of project to rehabilitate displaced families

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said cooperation and unity among people was important to promote social harmony and growth.

He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for a project at Dhandu village to rehabilitate families whose houses were allegedly torched by a group of people in 2010 in Mirchpur.

"Since rehabilitation of these families is aligned with the vision of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, I suggest that this place should be named Deen Dayal Puram, and a park be developed here, and it should be named Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Park, " he said.

Khattar said the 258 displaced families of Mirchpur village would be accommodated on eight acres of land in Dhandur.

According to an official release, Rs 4.56 crore would be spent on this project.

On April 21, 2010, a group of villagers belonging to an upper caste had allegedly torched over a dozen houses belonging to Dalits in Mirchpur. In the incident, a 17-year-old polio-stricken girl Suman and her aged father Tara Chand were charred to death.

Khattar said Mirchpur was struck with this unfortunate tragedy in 2010, but the then government could not find any solution.

"Then we were in the opposition, but we continued our efforts to solve the problem. For this, we interacted with both sides. The only solution was to rehabilitate the displaced families.

"The present government has decided to rehabilitate them in Dhandur village," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Haryana Finance Minister Abhimanyu said the present government was working in the spirit of 'Haryana Ek-Haryanavi Ek'.

It is the first such government which has worked for the development of the state by rising above the considerations of region and caste, he claimed.

The trigger for the 2010 incident was said to be a dispute between upper caste men and a Dalit man over a barking dog.

Khattar also inaugurated and dedicated five projects to the people of Sirsa district.

Besides, he laid foundation stones of eight development projects