Union Minister Birender Singh's wife Prem Lata Singh today raised the issue of "backwardness" of Jind district in Haryana Assembly and urged the state government to take steps "to end years of discrimination".
"During the last 15 years, Jind district has been discriminated against, both during INLD time and the 10 years of Congress rule," said the BJP MLA from Uchana Kalan segment in Jind district, during a discussion on the Governor's address during the ongoing Budget session.
"The area lacks a good college, there is no medical college, no university..I am hopeful that the present state government will solve all these problems as Jind has been discriminated against all these years," she added.
Taking a dig at Prem Lata, the main opposition INLD MLAs reminded the BJP legislator that her husband Birender Singh, now a minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, had been in Congress for over 40 years before he parted ways to join the BJP in August last year.
The INLD members told her that Birender Singh was also a prominent leader from the State when Congress was in power and could have ensured that Jind got its due.
Intervening in the issue, state Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said, "Birender Singh was a respected leader and he had not got his due while being in the Congress. Now, he has been given the due he deserved after he joined the saffron party last year."
Prem Lata also demanded that the government should hire female coaches to train girl athletes "as one often gets to hear tales of exploitation of girls at the hands of male coaches".
She said special buses for girls should be run in Jind district on the pattern of "University-Special" buses in Delhi. She also said that to end exploitation of rural people at the hands of quacks, it should be made mandatory for newly recruited doctors to serve for five years in villages. She also favoured raising a separate "rural cadre" for this.
Speaking on the Governor's address, Congress MLA Raghubir Singh Kadian demanded that student elections be held in universities of the state at the earliest.
INLD MLA Balwan Singh raised the issue of price rise, farmers' issues, and alleged deteriorating law and order situation in the state and also demanded that the BJP government should grant 33 per cent reservation to women in the M L Khattar Cabinet.
BJP MLA Bakshish Singh Virk raised the problems faced by his Asandh constituency and said that despite being surrounded by four districts, the segment had not witnessed development during the previous Congress rule.
