Haryana Assembly's monsoon session to begin on Aug 2

The monsoon session of the Haryana Assembly will start on August 2 and it is likely to be the last before the state goes to polls in October.

The date was announced at a meeting of the state cabinet, which was chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on Tuesday.

In another decision, the cabinet approved a proposal for implementing a new rail project to connect Palwal and Sonipat.The project will cost Rs 5,566 crore, an official release said.

The Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor Project from Palwal to Sonipat is being implemented bythe Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (HRIDC), a joint venture of the Railway Ministry and the state government.

The total route length of the project is 121.742 kms and it will have 17 stations, including 14 new stations and three existing stations, 23 major waterway bridges, 195 minor waterway bridges and three rail flyovers, the release said.

Besides this, it will have two road over bridges and 153 road under bridge, it said.

The rail corridor will enable running of passenger trains on this route, which will directly connect Gurugram with Chandigarh, bypassing Delhi.This will reduce travel time, the release said.

The project will facilitate running of trains from Gurugram or Faridabad to various parts of the state, it said.

The project will also facilitate the diversion of goods traffic not meant for Delhi and will help in developing multi-modal hubs in NCR region of Haryana, according to the release.

It will open up unserved areas of the state, thereby enhancing economic and social activity of the State, it said.

Private companies like Maruti Suzuki, All Cargo Logistics and JM Baxi Group have expressed interest in the project with equity contribution, the release said.

In another decision, the cabinet approved the amendment in the Haryana Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules, 2008, in order to bring more similarity and uniformity with the pattern being adopted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

"Now after the amendment, there will be four papers--three compulsory and one optional-- in the main written examination for the post of HCS (Executive Branch) and allied services.

"However, the list of 23 optional subjects and syllabus for compulsory and optional papers already notified by the state Government will remain unchanged," the release said.

Currently, the main written examination of HCS and allied services consist of 5 papers-- one paper for English, one for Hindi, one for General Studies and one paper each for two optional subjects to be chosen from the list of 23 optional subjects.