Opposition misleading people on SYL, Swaminathan report: Khattar

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today accused the Opposition of misleading people on the SYL canal issue and the Swaminathan Commission report.

"The Opposition is misleading people on the issue of the SYL canal and the Swaminathan Commission report... But it is your responsibility to separate the grain from the chaff, and play the role of a watchman. You all know how the Opposition has been playing a negative role," he said while addressing a public meeting here in Kurukshetra district.

Khattar lashed out at the Opposition, saying jobs were earlier given to favourites through chit system, but the present state government had put an end to it and recruitment was done to about 26,000 posts on merit basis.

"People can inform me if anyone has taken money in the name of giving them jobs. Action would be taken against the guilty," he added.

The chief minister said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had to be increased for progress and development of the country.

At present, the GDP rate of Haryana is 8.2 whereas national GDP is 7.8.

"In order to increase the country's GDP, we will have to increase the GDP of Haryana up to 10," he said.

Khattar said there was shortage of water in southern Haryana and asked farmers to opt for less water-guzzling crops.

"Therefore, some other crops, which need less irrigation, should be sown," he said.

Khattar said five lakh LPG connections have been issued in Haryana under the Ujjwala Yojana of the central government.

When the chief minister asked the public if anyone still had not gotten an LPG connection, three people raised their hands.

He directed the deputy commissioner and the sub-divisional magistrate to issue LPG connections to them within two days.

Speaking on the occasion, Haryana Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar said as chairman of the BJP's Kisan Morcha earlier, he used to raise the demand for implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report, but the Congress Government did not pay any attention.

"The present government has given more than what the report recommended and the government is working to double the income of farmers," he added.

Haryana's Minister of State for Labour and Employment Nayab Singh said the farmers were "exploited during the last 70 years".

"It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has honoured farmers by giving them remunerative prices," he said, and demanded that the prime minister be honoured with the 'Kisan Ratan Award'.