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Congress creating confusion on Aravalli issue: Khattar
The minister was in Panipat to participate in the foundation laying ceremony of the proposed railway overbridge in the industrial area of the town on Wednesday. Khattar said that the overbridge, which will be built at a cost of approximately ₹52 crore, has been named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In his first reaction in the state on the Aravalli hills issue, Union power minister Manohar Lal Khattar claimed that the Congress is creating confusion in the case, adding that the absence of legal guidelines will only promote illegal mining.
The minister was in Panipat to participate in the foundation laying ceremony of the proposed railway overbridge in the industrial area of the town on Wednesday. Khattar said that the overbridge, which will be built at a cost of approximately ₹52 crore, has been named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
A grand statue of Vajpayee will also be installed in the bridge complex.
Speaking to reporters, Khattar said that the project is expected to be completed in two years and will be constructed on a single pillar, making it not only strong but also extremely useful for traffic.
When asked about his comment on the ongoing controversy regarding Aravalli , the minister said that as the people were not following rules made to protect the hills, a few concerned citizens approached the Supreme Court.
“The apex court left the matter to states that they can allow mining on small hills, but not on 100 meters or above. Remember, mining is an essential part of development and if the government does not allow it, this will only promote illegal mining. There is no doubt that illegal mining is rampant on the high peaks in Rajasthan and this check is for the state only as there is no mining allowed in Gurugram and Faridabad districts of Haryana. If there would have been no such order, there would have been more damage due to illegal mining,” he said.
On Tuesday, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda pointed out that the Forest Survey of India report clearly states that the destruction of the Aravalli range will have the greatest impact on Haryana.
“This will lead to increased pollution and the destruction of these hills, which act as the ‘lungs’ of Haryana. What is the state government’s stance on this? Why did the government not defend it in the Supreme Court, and why is it not filing a review petition now? The government has not given any satisfactory answer to this either,” Hooda said in Chandigarh.
On the other hand, Khattar said that in 2006, it was the Congress government that enacted the same rules, which have been repeated by the SC.
“There is nothing new. But as the Aravalli issue has come to the fore after a long time, Congress just wants to create confusion and do politics out of it. In Parliament, when they asked for discussion on SIR, the government replied, but they were not ready to listen. A similar scenario was seen recently in the Haryana assembly session,” Khattar told the reporters in Panipat.
Clearing the air on installation of smart meters, Khattar also clarified that the smart meters will only promote consumer discipline to use heavy appliances and will help save energy to decrease the power charges in future.
